This page is established-protected.
Super Smash Bros. series

List of rumors: Difference between revisions

From SmashWiki, the Super Smash Bros. wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
(→‎Vergeben leaks: Erdrick is an alt for the Hero so Erdrick is technically a DLC character)
No edit summary
Tag: Mobile edit
 
(480 intermediate revisions by 59 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{ArticleIcons|series=y}}
{{ArticleIcons|series=y}}
{{move|Rumors|We don't call the leaks page "List of leaks"}}
{{split|The Vergeben section is pretty much 7 separate rumors by the same guy, and he got a notable amount of pre-launch info correct}}
<!-- READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES BEFORE ADDING ANY RUMORS:
<!-- READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES BEFORE ADDING ANY RUMORS:
1. This article exists to document NOTABLE rumors. As such, any rumors added to this page must have some degree of notability for them to stay.
1. This article exists to document NOTABLE rumors. As such, any rumors added to this page must have a substantial degree of notability for them to stay.
2. Check to see whether or not the rumor is on the page in the first place. Character rosters, for instance, are covered in the "General" section, and thus, do not require placement on any other sections of the page.
2. Check to see whether or not the rumor is on the page in the first place.
3. Notability of rumors should involve either having significant speculation and/or spread in the community (such as large threads on SmashBoards or coverage by notable gaming-related newssites), or have a notable characteristic that differentiates them from other rumors. An example of the former would be the Leon S. Kennedy rumor from Brawl (owing to its presence on the large site of IMDB and its recognition in Wikipedia's now-discontinued FAQ for Brawl's page), while an example of the latter would be the Lucina rumor for SSB4 (as it was the first rumor for SSB4 that involved the use of hacks for Brawl).
3. Notability of rumors should involve either having significant speculation and/or spread in the community (such as large threads on SmashBoards or coverage by notable gaming-related newssites), or have a notable characteristic that differentiates them from other rumors. An example of the former would be the Grinch Leak from Ultimate (which not only caused widespread debate throughout SmashBoards and social media sites about its legitimacy up to the release of Ultimate, but was also covered by mainstream gaming sites), while an example of the latter would be the Lucina rumor for Smash 4 (as it was the first faked leak that utilize mods, which would become a common trend for faking leaks of varying effort).
4. If a rumor is either confirmed as factual or fictional, then update the specific section as to reflect this. DO NOT REMOVE SECTIONS FROM THE PAGE IF THEY ARE PROVEN AS TRUE OR FALSE.
4. If a rumor is confirmed to be a factual, it belongs on the List of leaks article (https://www.ssbwiki.com/List_of_leaks), not here.
5. If a rumor is removed and you believe it to be notable, outline on the talk page of this article for why you think it is notable. DO NOT IMMEDIATELY EDIT THE RUMOR IN QUESTION BACK INTO THE ARTICLE.
5. If a rumor is removed and you believe it to be notable, outline on the talk page of this article for why you think it is notable. DO NOT IMMEDIATELY EDIT THE RUMOR IN QUESTION BACK INTO THE ARTICLE.
6. The examples on this page are listed in roughly chronological order. If possible, attempt to continue this trend.-->
6. The examples on this page are listed in roughly chronological order. If possible, attempt to continue this trend.-->
[[File:MewtwoBrawl.jpg|thumb|175px|A supposed image of Mewtwo appearing in ''Brawl''{{'}}s Subspace Emissary; faked images such as these are commonly made to spread rumors about the development of the game.]]
Like many other games, the ''{{b|Super Smash Bros.|series}}'' series has had various '''rumors''' spread about it, usually through the Internet, and sometimes magazines.  A majority of rumors spread around the time of April Fools' Day, a day the gaming community is not unfamiliar with.  Most of the time, rumors claimed to contain information concerning [[List of Super Smash Bros. series characters#Playable character|playable character]]s, though rumors concerning other aspects of gameplay, such as development scheduling, can also appear. Rumors can be proven true or false on arrival via fact-checking or by waiting for relevant information from official sources, though a majority are proven false; some rumors, however, can contain true information, or even fabricated information that coincidentally becomes true in a later reveal or game.


==General==<!-- READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES BEFORE ADDING ANY RUMORS:
[[File:GrinchLeak.png|thumb|175px|A hoax photo of ''Ultimate''{{'}}s supposed finalized banner of the roster that contained several characters that would not be playable in ''Ultimate''; dubbed "The Grinch Leak" due to being shown with advertisements for the then-upcoming movie.]]
1. This article exists to document NOTABLE rumors. As such, any rumors added to this page must have some degree of notability for them to stay.
 
2. Check to see whether or not the rumor is on the page in the first place. Character rosters, for instance, are covered in the "General" section, and thus, do not require placement on any other sections of the page.
A '''rumor''' is a statement or story that gains traction within popular discourse but lacks sufficient verifiable evidence to be confirmed or denied. Like many other games, the ''{{b|Super Smash Bros.|series}}'' series has had various rumors spread about it, usually through the internet, and sometimes magazines. Most of the time, rumors claimed to contain information concerning [[List of Super Smash Bros. series characters#Playable character|playable character]]s, though rumors concerning other aspects of gameplay, such as development scheduling, can also appear.
3. Notability of rumors should involve either having significant speculation and/or spread in the community (such as large threads on the SmashWorld Forums or coverage by notable gaming-related newssites), or have a notable characteristic that differentiates them from other rumors. An example of the former would be the Leon S. Kennedy rumor from Brawl (owing to its presence on the large site of IMDB and its recognition in Wikipedia's now-discontinued FAQ for Brawl's page), while an example of the latter would be the Lucina rumor for SSB4 (as it was the first rumor for ''SSB4'' that involved the use of hacks for Brawl).
 
4. If a rumor is either confirmed as factual or fictional, then update the specific section as to reflect this. DO NOT REMOVE SECTIONS FROM THE PAGE IF THEY ARE PROVEN AS TRUE OR FALSE.
Rumors typically have no more than hearsay as evidence, though some can contain true information, or even fabricated information that coincidentally becomes true with later developments. Rumors can be proven true or false on arrival via fact-checking or by waiting for relevant information from official sources, though the vast majority are proven false. That being said, rumors that are later proven true tend to receive concrete evidence later on, shifting it into the realm of [[leak]]s. Some false rumors are intentionally created to give the creator attention or just cause commotion, with some going as far as to fabricate evidence, with instances of this nature being defined as a hoax.
5. If a rumor is removed and you believe it to be notable, outline on the talk page of this article for why you think it is notable. DO NOT IMMEDIATELY READD THE RUMOR IN QUESTION.
 
While rumors about the ''Smash'' series are innumerable, this article documents only especially notable rumors, whether for being well known and widely spread, for being from a notable source, or for other noteworthy reasons worth mentioning.
 
==Common/Recurring rumors==
<!-- READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES BEFORE ADDING ANY RUMORS:
1. This article exists to document NOTABLE rumors. As such, any rumors added to this page must have a substantial degree of notability for them to stay.
2. Check to see whether or not the rumor is on the page in the first place.
3. Notability of rumors should involve either having significant speculation and/or spread in the community (such as large threads on SmashBoards or coverage by notable gaming-related newssites), or have a notable characteristic that differentiates them from other rumors. An example of the former would be the Grinch Leak from Ultimate (which not only caused widespread debate throughout SmashBoards and social media sites about its legitimacy up to the release of Ultimate, but was also covered by mainstream gaming sites), while an example of the latter would be the Lucina rumor for Smash 4 (as it was the first faked leak that utilize mods, which would become a common trend for faking leaks of varying effort).
4. If a rumor is confirmed to be a factual, it belongs on the List of leaks article (https://www.ssbwiki.com/List_of_leaks), not here.
5. If a rumor is removed and you believe it to be notable, outline on the talk page of this article for why you think it is notable. DO NOT IMMEDIATELY EDIT THE RUMOR IN QUESTION BACK INTO THE ARTICLE.
6. The examples on this page are listed in roughly chronological order. If possible, attempt to continue this trend.-->
6. The examples on this page are listed in roughly chronological order. If possible, attempt to continue this trend.-->


Line 23: Line 28:
As with any game, the ''Smash Bros.'' series has had various works of fan art being passed off as supposedly leaked screenshots. Box art and character selection screens for ''Brawl'' were particularly common, though images of characters in the game also appeared. Shortly before and after the release of the game in Japan, these images had become more and more common, though the use of video streaming sites such as [[YouTube]] quickly disproved most of these rumors as more gameplay footage of the game became public.
As with any game, the ''Smash Bros.'' series has had various works of fan art being passed off as supposedly leaked screenshots. Box art and character selection screens for ''Brawl'' were particularly common, though images of characters in the game also appeared. Shortly before and after the release of the game in Japan, these images had become more and more common, though the use of video streaming sites such as [[YouTube]] quickly disproved most of these rumors as more gameplay footage of the game became public.


Many character selection screens for ''Melee'' also made the rounds, though these screens were less credible due to the ability to quickly distribute images on the Internet being unfeasible during ''Melee's'' release; by then, all the unlockables had been well-known. Some of these fake rosters, however, were merely made as jokes, including [http://web.archive.org/web/20070322232951/http://www.geocities.com/dewluigi2002/biggie.jpg a particularly famous image featuring over 108 characters and eight player slots]. The inability to easily customize the character roster for the original game has prevented fake rosters from appearing, as there are no empty spaces, and the game was released before the Internet was widespread.
Many character selection screens for ''Melee'' also made the rounds, though these screens were less credible due to the ability to quickly distribute images on the internet being unfeasible during ''Melee's'' release; by then, all the unlockables had been well-known. Some of these fake rosters, however, were merely made as jokes, including [http://web.archive.org/web/20070322232951/http://www.geocities.com/dewluigi2002/biggie.jpg a particularly famous image featuring over 108 characters and eight player slots]. The inability to easily customize the character roster for the original game has prevented fake rosters from appearing, as there are no empty spaces, and the game was released before the internet was widespread.


While extremely common, fake character rosters are relatively easy to debunk. Particularly low-quality rosters will often use art from various other sources, violating the trend in the series where all art is original to the games. For example, in the image to the right, Luigi's image is a mirrored version of [[mariowiki:File:Luigi Artwork - Super Mario 64 DS.png|his official artwork]] from ''{{s|mariowiki|Super Mario 64 DS}}''; adding to this, the hoaxed image features both three-dimensional models (such as for the aforementioned Luigi and the ''F-Zero'' character {{s|fzerowiki|Black Shadow}}) and two-dimensional illustrations (such as for [[Marth]] and ''Fire Emblem'' character {{s|fireemblemwiki|Micaiah}}). Furthermore, hoaxers have sometimes made various oversights while producing such images. A minor hoax, for instance, claimed to feature the character [[wikipedia:Bravely Default|Agnès from ''Bravely Default'']] as a playable character, but the [[:File:AgnesSSB4rumor.jpg|faked images]] improperly spelt her name as "Agn'''é'''s", and her character portrait was different between the [[:File:AgnesRumorWiiU.jpg|two images given]]<ref>http://tieba.baidu.com/p/3346382609</ref>.
While extremely common, fake character rosters are relatively easy to debunk. Particularly low-quality rosters will often use art from various other sources, violating the trend in the series where all art is original to the games. For example, in the image to the right, Luigi's image is a mirrored version of [[mariowiki:File:Luigi Artwork - Super Mario 64 DS.png|his official artwork]] from ''{{s|mariowiki|Super Mario 64 DS}}''; adding to this, the hoaxed image features both three-dimensional models (such as for the aforementioned Luigi and the ''F-Zero'' character {{s|fzerowiki|Black Shadow}}) and two-dimensional illustrations (such as for [[Marth]] and ''Fire Emblem'' character {{s|fireemblemwiki|Micaiah}}). Furthermore, hoaxers have sometimes made various oversights while producing such images. A minor hoax, for instance, claimed to feature the character Agnès from {{uvm3|Bravely Default}} as a playable character, but the [[Media:AgnesSSB4rumor.jpg|faked images]] improperly spelt her name as "Agn'''é'''s", and her character portrait was different between the [[Media:AgnesRumorWiiU.jpg|two images given]].<ref>http://tieba.baidu.com/p/3346382609</ref>


==Rumors about ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''==<!-- READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES BEFORE ADDING ANY RUMORS:
==Rumors about ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''==
1. This article exists to document NOTABLE rumors. As such, any rumors added to this page must have some degree of notability for them to stay.
<!-- READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES BEFORE ADDING ANY RUMORS:
2. Check to see whether or not the rumor is on the page in the first place. Character rosters, for instance, are covered in the "General" section, and thus, do not require placement on any other sections of the page.
1. This article exists to document NOTABLE rumors. As such, any rumors added to this page must have a substantial degree of notability for them to stay.
3. Notability of rumors should involve either having significant speculation and/or spread in the community (such as large threads on the SmashWorld Forums or coverage by notable gaming-related newssites), or have a notable characteristic that differentiates them from other rumors. An example of the former would be the Leon S. Kennedy rumor from Brawl (owing to its presence on the large site of IMDB and its recognition in Wikipedia's now-discontinued FAQ for Brawl's page), while an example of the latter would be the Lucina rumor for SSB4 (as it was the first rumor for ''SSB4'' that involved the use of hacks for Brawl).
2. Check to see whether or not the rumor is on the page in the first place.
4. If a rumor is either confirmed as factual or fictional, then update the specific section as to reflect this. DO NOT REMOVE SECTIONS FROM THE PAGE IF THEY ARE PROVEN AS TRUE OR FALSE.
3. Notability of rumors should involve either having significant speculation and/or spread in the community (such as large threads on SmashBoards or coverage by notable gaming-related news sites), or have a notable characteristic that differentiates them from other rumors. An example of the former would be the Grinch Leak from Ultimate (which not only caused widespread debate throughout SmashBoards and social media sites about its legitimacy up to the release of Ultimate, but was also covered by mainstream gaming sites), while an example of the latter would be the Lucina rumor for Smash 4 (as it was the first faked leak that utilize mods, which would become a common trend for faking leaks of varying effort).
5. If a rumor is removed and you believe it to be notable, outline on the talk page of this article for why you think it is notable. DO NOT IMMEDIATELY READD THE RUMOR IN QUESTION.
4. If a rumor is confirmed to be a factual, it belongs on the List of leaks article (https://www.ssbwiki.com/List_of_leaks), not here.
5. If a rumor is removed and you believe it to be notable, outline on the talk page of this article for why you think it is notable. DO NOT IMMEDIATELY EDIT THE RUMOR IN QUESTION BACK INTO THE ARTICLE.
6. The examples on this page are listed in roughly chronological order. If possible, attempt to continue this trend.-->
6. The examples on this page are listed in roughly chronological order. If possible, attempt to continue this trend.-->
===Non-playable characters hoaxes===
===Non-playable characters hoaxes===
Being able to play as characters such as [[Metal Mario]], [[Giant Donkey Kong]], {{SSB|Master Hand}}, or a [[Fighting Polygon]] was the main source of rumors during the game's era. As with other rumors of the time, the supposed criteria ranged from unusual (spinning the control stick 30 times) to ludicrous (completing the [[1P Game]] as every character in a specific order on Very Hard with a [[stock]] of one). Many videos on YouTube continue to claim these rumors, but all of these which supposedly work merely use [[Action Replay|cheat]] [[GameShark|devices]] to allow playability of these characters.
Being able to play as characters such as [[Metal Mario]], [[Giant Donkey Kong]], {{SSB|Master Hand}}, or a [[Fighting Polygon]] was the main source of rumors during the game's era. As with other rumors of the time, the supposed criteria ranged from unusual (spinning the control stick 30 times) to ludicrous (completing the [[1P Game]] as every character in a specific order on Very Hard with a [[stock]] of one). Many videos on YouTube continue to claim these rumors, but all of these which supposedly work merely use [[Action Replay|cheat]] [[GameShark|devices]] to allow playability of these characters.


===Cut characters rumor===
===Scrapped characters rumor===
A popular rumor about ''Smash 64'' that came around long after its release was that several characters were planned to be playable in the game, but cut due to time and/or memory constraints. The characters most often rumored to have been planned but cut are [[Peach]], [[Wario]], [[Pit]], and [[Meowth]]. A page on the official ''Smash 64'' website claims that [[Bowser]], [[King Dedede]], and [[Mewtwo]] were indeed planned to be playable in ''Smash 64'', but the reason for their exclusion is not specifically stated<ref>http://games.yahoo.co.jp/qa/detail?qid=1090755405</ref>. No sources, however, have been proven to support Pit, Meowth, Peach, Wario, or any other characters as having ever been planned to be playable in the game.
A popular rumor about ''Smash 64'' that came around long after its release was that several characters were planned to be playable in the game, but cut due to time and/or memory constraints. The characters most often rumored to have been planned but cut are [[Peach]], [[Wario]], [[Pit]], and [[Meowth]]. A page on the official ''Smash 64'' website claims that [[Bowser]], [[King Dedede]], and [[Mewtwo]] were indeed planned to be playable in ''Smash 64'', but the reason for their exclusion is not specifically stated.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20150428102241/http://games.yahoo.co.jp/qa/detail?qid=1090755405</ref> Additionally, [[Marth]] was planned but cut due to time constraints, according to an interview from a book titled ''Making of Fire Emblem: 25 Years of Development Secrets''.<ref>[http://www.sourcegaming.info/2015/12/13/sakurai-fe25/ Source Gaming: "Sakurai Interview: Fire Emblem 25th Anniversary"]</ref> No sources, however, have been proven to support Pit, Meowth, Peach, Wario, or any other characters as having ever been planned to be playable in the game.


==Rumors about ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''==<!-- READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES BEFORE ADDING ANY RUMORS:
==Rumors about ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]''==
1. This article exists to document NOTABLE rumors. As such, any rumors added to this page must have some degree of notability for them to stay.
<!-- READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES BEFORE ADDING ANY RUMORS:
2. Check to see whether or not the rumor is on the page in the first place. Character rosters, for instance, are covered in the "General" section, and thus, do not require placement on any other sections of the page.
1. This article exists to document NOTABLE rumors. As such, any rumors added to this page must have a substantial degree of notability for them to stay.
3. Notability of rumors should involve either having significant speculation and/or spread in the community (such as large threads on the SmashWorld Forums or coverage by notable gaming-related newssites), or have a notable characteristic that differentiates them from other rumors. An example of the former would be the Leon S. Kennedy rumor from Brawl (owing to its presence on the large site of IMDB and its recognition in Wikipedia's now-discontinued FAQ for Brawl's page), while an example of the latter would be the Lucina rumor for SSB4 (as it was the first rumor for ''SSB4'' that involved the use of hacks for Brawl).
2. Check to see whether or not the rumor is on the page in the first place.
4. If a rumor is either confirmed as factual or fictional, then update the specific section as to reflect this. DO NOT REMOVE SECTIONS FROM THE PAGE IF THEY ARE PROVEN AS TRUE OR FALSE.
3. Notability of rumors should involve either having significant speculation and/or spread in the community (such as large threads on SmashBoards or coverage by notable gaming-related news sites), or have a notable characteristic that differentiates them from other rumors. An example of the former would be the Grinch Leak from Ultimate (which not only caused widespread debate throughout SmashBoards and social media sites about its legitimacy up to the release of Ultimate, but was also covered by mainstream gaming sites), while an example of the latter would be the Lucina rumor for Smash 4 (as it was the first faked leak that utilize mods, which would become a common trend for faking leaks of varying effort).
5. If a rumor is removed and you believe it to be notable, outline on the talk page of this article for why you think it is notable. DO NOT IMMEDIATELY READD THE RUMOR IN QUESTION.
4. If a rumor is confirmed to be a factual, it belongs on the List of leaks article (https://www.ssbwiki.com/List_of_leaks), not here.
5. If a rumor is removed and you believe it to be notable, outline on the talk page of this article for why you think it is notable. DO NOT IMMEDIATELY EDIT THE RUMOR IN QUESTION BACK INTO THE ARTICLE.
6. The examples on this page are listed in roughly chronological order. If possible, attempt to continue this trend.-->
6. The examples on this page are listed in roughly chronological order. If possible, attempt to continue this trend.-->
===Sonic and Tails hoax===
===Sonic and Tails hoax===
[[File:Sonictailshoax.jpg|thumb|400px|EGM's "proof" of Sonic and Tails appearing in ''SSBM'']] The Sonic and Tails rumor in [[Super Smash Bros. Melee|''Melee'']] remains one of the most infamous rumors not just in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, but also in the world of video games. An April Fools' joke pulled by the gaming-themed magazine ''{{s|Wikipedia|Electronic Gaming Monthly}}'' said that Sonic and Tails could be unlocked after defeating 20 enemies in [[Cruel Melee]], then defeating the two in a two-against-one battle. The blurb also claimed that upon completing {{SSBM|Classic Mode}} with either of the two characters, the player would get a "special surprise". While ''EGM'' was famous for its [http://www.defunctgames.com/ivegotyournumber/15/egms-15-april-fools-day-pranks previous April Fools' Day pranks], such as the infamous  [[wikipedia:Sheng Long|"Sheng Long cheat"]] in ''[[Street Fighter (universe)#Street Fighter II|Street Fighter II]]'' (which would later be referenced by {{SSB4|Ryu}}'s [[Ryu_(SSB4)#Reveal_Trailer|reveal trailer]] in ''Smash 4''), many readers still fell for the rumor.
[[File:Sonictailshoax.jpg|thumb|400px|EGM's "proof" of Sonic and Tails appearing in ''SSBM'']] The Sonic and Tails rumor in [[Super Smash Bros. Melee|''Melee'']] remains one of the most infamous rumors not just in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, but also in the world of video games. An April Fools' joke pulled by the gaming-themed magazine ''{{s|Wikipedia|Electronic Gaming Monthly}}'' said that Sonic and Tails could be unlocked after defeating 20 enemies in [[Cruel Melee]], then defeating the two in a two-against-one battle. The blurb also claimed that upon completing {{SSBM|Classic Mode}} with either of the two characters, the player would get a "special surprise". While ''EGM'' was famous for its [http://www.defunctgames.com/ivegotyournumber/15/egms-15-april-fools-day-pranks previous April Fools' Day pranks], such as the infamous  [[wikipedia:Sheng Long|"Sheng Long cheat"]] in {{uv|Street Fighter|Street Fighter II}} (which would later be referenced by {{SSB4|Ryu}}'s [[Ryu (SSB4)#Reveal Trailer|reveal trailer]] in ''Smash 4''), many readers still fell for the rumor.


The rumor can be debunked through multiple pieces of evidence:
The rumor can be debunked through multiple pieces of evidence:
*The given [[Notice|unlock message]] does not follow the grammatical patterns of other unlock messages, specifically in its overuse of capitalized words. This can be seen by comparing the above image's notice with [[:File:Noticessbm.png|that of Pichu's]].
*The given [[Notice|unlock message]] does not follow the grammatical patterns of other unlock messages, specifically in its overuse of capitalized words. This can be seen by comparing the above image's notice with [[Media:Noticessbm.png|that of Pichu's]].
*After unlocking all 25 characters, the player receives a Notice that they have unlocked all characters, so unlocking more characters would contradict the Notice.
*After unlocking all 25 characters, the player receives a Notice that they have unlocked all characters, so unlocking more characters would contradict the Notice.
*After obtaining all [[trophies]], the player receives a Notice that they have unlocked all trophies, but clearing any of the one-player modes with Sonic or Tails should yield more trophies, thus contradicting the Notice.
*After obtaining all [[trophies]], the player receives a Notice that they have unlocked all trophies, but clearing any of the one-player modes with Sonic or Tails should yield more trophies, thus contradicting the Notice.
Line 57: Line 66:
*In the screenshot claiming to show Sonic as a selectable character, Sonic's art is identical to [http://media.sonicscanf.org//gallery/sonic-the-hedgehog/sonic-adventure-dx.png one of his official renders from ''Sonic Adventure'' on the Sega Dreamcast]. In contrast, all other characters in the game have completely original art for their character select portraits.
*In the screenshot claiming to show Sonic as a selectable character, Sonic's art is identical to [http://media.sonicscanf.org//gallery/sonic-the-hedgehog/sonic-adventure-dx.png one of his official renders from ''Sonic Adventure'' on the Sega Dreamcast]. In contrast, all other characters in the game have completely original art for their character select portraits.
*At the time of the production of ''Melee'', [[Sega]] and [[Nintendo]] were rivals both in the software and hardware businesses, making it unlikely that the two would work together to develop a game.
*At the time of the production of ''Melee'', [[Sega]] and [[Nintendo]] were rivals both in the software and hardware businesses, making it unlikely that the two would work together to develop a game.
**A later interview conducted by ''[[wikipedia:Edge (magazine)|EDGE]]'' with Sonic's creator {{s|wikipedia|Yuji Naka}}, claimed that, on the topic of Sonic and Tails appearing in ''Melee'', "[[:File:YujiNakaInterview.jpg|it was very close, but time constraints did not allow us to continue with the idea.]]"
**A later interview conducted by ''[[wikipedia:Edge (magazine)|EDGE]]'' with former head of Sonic Team {{s|wikipedia|Yuji Naka}}, claimed that, on the topic of Sonic and Tails appearing in ''Melee'', "{{file link|YujiNakaInterview.jpg|it was very close, but time constraints did not allow us to continue with the idea.}}"
*There is no data on the game's disc relating to the duo, and they cannot be selected with the {{SSBM|debug menu}}.
*There is no data on the game's disc relating to the duo, and they cannot be selected with the {{SSBM|debug menu}}.
*The method for unlocking the two simply does not work. Numerous videos have demonstrated getting more than 20 KOs in Cruel Melee, whether naturally or via exploits such as the [[Master Hand glitch]], does not unlock the duo, and in the early years of the rumor, an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur-mLgupG5c infamous video] featuring {{SSBM|Pikachu}} getting 565 KOs in Cruel Melee effectively disproved the hoax.
*The method for unlocking the two simply does not work. Numerous videos have demonstrated getting more than 20 KOs in Cruel Melee, whether naturally or via exploits such as the [[Master Hand glitch]], does not unlock the duo, and in the early years of the rumor, an [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur-mLgupG5c infamous video] featuring {{SSBM|Pikachu}} getting 565 KOs in Cruel Melee effectively disproved the hoax.
*Although subtle, EGM attempted to hint readers that the cheat was actually an April Fools' joke; previous jokes would feature a "1" and "4" in some way as to reference April Fools' Day, as the shorthand date for the day is 4/1 in America or 1/4 in Europe. Owing to this, the Notice commemorating Sonic and Tails being unlocked had the date as "4.1.2002".
*Although subtle, EGM attempted to hint readers that the cheat was actually an April Fools' joke; previous jokes would feature a "1" and "4" in some way as to reference April Fools' Day, as the shorthand date for the day is 4/1 in America or 1/4 in Europe. Owing to this, the Notice commemorating Sonic and Tails being unlocked had the date as "4.1.2002".


The rumor rapidly spread following its publication, with rival publication ''{{s|wikipedia|Nintendo Power}}'' publishing  an article about how the rumor was a hoax, and the page on ''Melee'' in Nintendo's website also writing about how the rumor was false. ''EGM'' would eventually confess in its next issue that the cheat was an April Fools' joke, and, like its previous April Fools' Day jokes, mock those who took it seriously. ''EGM'' later offered a contest where players who submitted video proof of getting 20 or more KOs in Cruel Melee could receive a free copy of ''[[wikipedia:Sonic Adventure 2|Sonic Adventure 2: Battle]]'', Sonic's first game on a Nintendo system.
The rumor rapidly spread following its publication, with rival publication ''{{s|wikipedia|Nintendo Power}}'' publishing  an article about how the rumor was a hoax, and the page on ''Melee'' in Nintendo's website also writing about how the rumor was false. ''EGM'' would eventually confess in its next issue that the cheat was an April Fools' joke, and, like its previous April Fools' Day jokes, mock those who took it seriously. ''EGM'' later offered a contest where players who submitted video proof of getting 20 or more KOs in Cruel Melee could receive a free copy of ''[[wikipedia:Sonic Adventure 2|Sonic Adventure 2: Battle]]'', Sonic's first game on a Nintendo system. Due to the wide spread of rumors relating to ''Sonic'' characters, the FAQ on ''Melee''{{'}}s US website notified players that Sonic, along with Knuckles, was not a playable character.<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/2huph9/here_have_an_old_faq_from_the_original_smash_bros/#lightbox</ref>
 
[[Sonic]] later became a playable character in all Smash games starting with ''[[Brawl]]'', while Tails made a number of cameo appearances.


[[Sonic]] later became a playable character in ''[[Brawl]]'', ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'' and ''[[Ultimate]]'', while Tails made a number of cameo appearances in ''Brawl'', ''Smash 4'', and ''Ultimate''.
This rumor would later go on to be referenced in the "Super Smash Bros. Series" column of the ''Sonic the Hedgehog Encyclo-speed-ia'', where it is jokingly stated within the unlock requirements for Sonic that "defeating ten enemies in Cruel Melee in Super Smash Bros. Melee is not one of them," though erroneously stating ten enemies needed to be defeated rather than 20.


===Toad hoax===
===Toad hoax===
[[File:Toadcharacterselect.jpg|thumb|left|"Proof" of Toad appearing on the Character Select screen.]]
[[File:Toadcharacterselect.jpg|thumb|left|"Proof" of Toad appearing on the Character Select screen.]]
The Toad rumor, initially posted on [http://web.archive.org/web/20090831060903/http://geocities.com/demeterpictures/secret.html a small Geocities site] in November of 2002, stated that Toad could be unlocked as a playable character in ''Melee'' after obtaining a perfect score during the [[Ending Credits|credits mini-game]], which is played after completing any one-player mode; after hitting all the credits, the player would then have to clear Adventure Mode (with a requirement of "easily defeating" the {{SSBM|Yoshi}}s in the {{b|Mushroom Kingdom|Adventure Mode}} stage), after which they would be able to unlock him. The site also gave several fake screenshots depicting Toad in various in-game scenarios, propagating the rumor; it came to the point where the images had become more well-known than the site and the supposed method to unlock him, with explanations sometimes varying strongly from the original.  
The Toad rumor, initially posted on [http://web.archive.org/web/20090831060903/http://geocities.com/demeterpictures/secret.html a small Geocities site] in November of 2002, stated that Toad could be unlocked as a playable character in ''Melee'' after obtaining a perfect score during the [[Ending Credits|credits mini-game]], which is played after completing any one-player mode; after hitting all the credits, the player would then have to clear Adventure Mode (with a requirement of "easily defeating" the {{SSBM|Yoshi}}s in the {{b|Mushroom Kingdom|Adventure Mode}} stage), after which they would be able to unlock him. The site also gave several fake screenshots depicting Toad in various in-game scenarios, propagating the rumor; it came to the point where the images had become more well-known than the site and the supposed method to unlock him, with explanations sometimes varying strongly from the original.


The method was disproved by the same evidence as the Sonic and Tails rumor, because in addition to Toad's place on the character select screen defying the rule that all characters in a series should be grouped together, the screenshots of Toad were made by taking images from Toad when he was running around the Mushroom Kingdom of the Adventure Mode of the game. Inconsistencies with the actual gameplay surrounding Toad also debunked the rumor; the site says that Toad has no accommodations in All-Star Mode, has no trophies, and has no videos for his Ending Sequence after finishing a 1-Player game, unlikely occurrences in terms of game design. The site itself also contributed to the debunking of the rumor; it was hosted on {{s|wikipedia|GeoCities}}, a former web hosting site that allowed anyone to create their own pages, causing the rumor to be considerably less credible than the Sonic and Tails rumor (which was featured in a widely-read magazine). The site also featured some incorrect information; for instance, when speaking about the game's Adventure Mode, the site claims that the ordeal is similar to unlocking {{SSBM|Falco}} - Falco, however, is unlockable in [[Multi-Man Melee]], not in Adventure Mode. Numerous spelling and grammatical errors were also present on the page, such as the misspelling of "taunt" as "taught".
The method was disproved by the same evidence as the Sonic and Tails rumor, because in addition to Toad's place on the character select screen defying the rule that all characters in a series should be grouped together, the screenshots of Toad were made by taking images from Toad when he was running around the Mushroom Kingdom of the Adventure Mode of the game. Inconsistencies with the actual gameplay surrounding Toad also debunked the rumor; the site says that Toad has no accommodations in All-Star Mode, has no trophies, and has no videos for his Ending Sequence after finishing a 1-Player game, unlikely occurrences in terms of game design. The site itself also contributed to the debunking of the rumor; it was hosted on {{s|wikipedia|GeoCities}}, a former web hosting site that allowed anyone to create their own pages, causing the rumor to be considerably less credible than the Sonic and Tails rumor (which was featured in a widely-read magazine). The site also featured some incorrect information; for instance, when speaking about the game's Adventure Mode, the site claims that the ordeal is similar to unlocking {{SSBM|Falco}} - Falco, however, is unlockable in [[Multi-Man Melee]], not in Adventure Mode. Numerous spelling and grammatical errors were also present on the page, such as the misspelling of "taunt" as "taught". Tool-assisted runs of a perfect score of the credits and a perfect score by {{Sm|Porkyz}} on February 2, 2021<ref>https://twitter.com/porkyz_falcon/status/1356698663410692097</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE3UFf-3kr4</ref> proved nothing is unlocked with a perfect score.
<center><gallery>
<center><gallery>
File:Toadnewfoe.jpg|An image of the "Challenger Approaching!" screen, with Toad as the challenger.
Toadnewfoe.jpg|An image of the "Challenger Approaching!" screen, with Toad as the challenger.
File:Toadunlocked.jpg|A supposed image of Toad's [[Notice]] message.
Toadunlocked.jpg|A supposed image of Toad's [[Notice]] message.
File:Toadflatzone.jpg|Toad fights against {{SSBM|Mewtwo}} in [[Flat Zone]]...
Toadflatzone.jpg|Toad fights against {{SSBM|Mewtwo}} in [[Flat Zone]]...
File:Toadvsmewtwo.jpg|...and [[Yoshi's Island]]. These two images, however, were what caused the hoax to be debunked.
Toadvsmewtwo.jpg|...and [[Yoshi's Island]]. These two images, however, were what caused the hoax to be debunked.
</gallery></center>
</gallery></center>


===Lucas replacing Ness rumor===
===NeoGAF scrapped characters rumor===
A widespread rumor that came around years after ''Melee's'' release was that [[Masahiro Sakurai]] planned to replace {{SSBM|Ness}} with the new protagonist of ''Mother 3'', [[Lucas]]. This rumor was confirmed by Sakurai himself, where he stated that he was going to replace Ness with Lucas, but the delay of ''Mother 3'' (which ended up getting delayed to 2006, five years after the release of ''Melee'') caused him to renege on the idea and keep Ness in.
Long after ''Melee''{{'}}s release in May of 2012, a NeoGAF user named cednym would post information about planned content for ''Melee'' that was [[Unused content (SSBM)|scrapped]], which he supposedly found in old [[Famitsu]] issues from 2002. Among the claims were several characters being planned for inclusion, which were: [[King Dedede]] being the character next inline for inclusion if [[Masahiro Sakurai]] could not receive permission from [[Intelligent Systems]] to use {{SSBM|Marth}}, as well as being considered for inclusion in the place of the six [[clone]]s; that Sakurai considered a [[Pokémon Trainer]] character using the second generation starter Pokémon, but there wasn't enought time and resources for such a labor intensive character; [[Wario]] was briefly considered as the {{SSBM|Mario}} clone, with low speed and high attack power, but Sakurai felt that Wario deserved better; [[Wolf]] was initially slotted as {{SSBM|Fox}}'s clone, but Sakurai felt he would be perceived as "a grey-colored Fox", so he went with {{SSBM|Falco}} for his more distinct appearance; and Leif from ''Fire Emblem: Thracia 776'' was initially slotted as Marth's clone, but after Intelligent Systems shown Sakurai a preview of the upcoming ''Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade'', he thought Roy would be a better fit, with his fire properties making him stand out.<ref>https://www.neogaf.com/threads/next-super-smash-bros-discussion-thread-community-edition.448761/page-151#post-37915502</ref> While cednym provided no evidence to legitimize his post, these claims would proliferate within the ''Smash'' community as accepted information about ''Melee''{{'}}s development for several years after. In 2016, [[Source Gaming]] would attempt to find these old Famitsu translations or any other information to support these claims, in their endeavor to chronicle all characters that were ever planned or seriously considered for inclusion in any ''Smash'' game for their "''The Definitive List of Unused Fighters in Smash''" article. However, they could not find anything that corroborated any of cednym's claims, in fact they would only find information that contradicted it, such as Sakurai confirming that Wario was the character next inline for inclusion, not King Dedede, as well as Sakurai confirming that he wouldn't have been able to add a single unique newcomer in the place of the six clones, contradicting the claim that Dedede could have been included in their place. Eventually, {{Sm|PushDustin}}, the admin of Source Gaming at the time, would contact cednym directly for verification of his claims, where he would then admit that his post was entirely falsified.<ref>https://sourcegaming.info/2016/04/29/duflupdate/</ref>
 
{{cquote|Actually, at first, I planned to change him [Ness] into the protagonist of Mother 3 [Lucas], but for various reasons during the delay, I settled back on the original idea. ({{ja|実は当初、MOTHER3の主人公に変更する予定でしたが、いろいろあって遠回りしながら、元のさやに収まりました。|Jitsuwa tōsho, MOTHER 3 no shujinkō ni henkō suru yoteideshitaga, iroiro atte tōmawari shinagara,-moto no saya ni osamarimashita.}})|cite=Masahiro Sakurai|source=[http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/software/nus_p_nalj/smash/flash/0717/ Smabura-Ken Ness page (Japanese)]}}
 
Relating to this rumor, after {{SSBB|Lucas}} was confirmed to be a newcomer in ''Brawl'' while Ness' confirmation had yet to be made, it was commonly speculated that {{SSBB|Ness}} would not return, being replaced by Lucas, as was originally planned in ''Melee''. A quote on the [[DOJO!!]] seemed to suggest this as well, claiming that "There’s a character named Ness who has appeared in the Smash Bros. series up until now, and Lucas is very similar". Such speculation ended up untrue however, as Ness returned again as a playable character in ''Brawl''. Lucas himself would later be cut in ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' (albeit only initially, before [[Lucas (SSB4)|reappearing as a downloadable character]]) while Ness returned as an unlockable character in {{for3ds}} and a starter character in {{forwiiu}}.
 
===Rare characters rumor===
Based on responses from fan questions confirming that [https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/software/nus_p_nalj/smash/flash/syukeiken/return506.html Banjo] from the ''Banjo-Kazooie'' games and [https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n01/n64/software/nus_p_nalj/smash/flash/syukeiken/return526.html James Bond] from ''{{uv|GoldenEye}} 007'' would not be appearing in ''Melee'', a popular rumor manifested, claiming that these characters were actually planned for inclusion but ultimately cut because Sakurai could not secure the rights from Rare (and, in the latter case, Eon Productions, the holders of Bond's film rights, which Rare secured to produce ''GoldenEye 007''). However, Sakurai only said that the characters would be difficult to include, not that he had planned to include them. It is worth noting that [https://nintendoeverything.com/rare-not-upset-that-nintendo-didnt-request-conker-banjo-in-smash-bros there were going to be trophies of characters from Rare games], but because the possibility of playable characters was not mentioned in this statement, the chances of this rumor being true are slim.
 
{{SSBU|Banjo & Kazooie}} would later join the roster in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''.


==Rumors about ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''==
==Rumors about ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''==
<!-- READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES BEFORE ADDING ANY RUMORS:
1. This article exists to document NOTABLE rumors. As such, any rumors added to this page must have a substantial degree of notability for them to stay.
2. Check to see whether or not the rumor is on the page in the first place.
3. Notability of rumors should involve either having significant speculation and/or spread in the community (such as large threads on SmashBoards or coverage by notable gaming-related news sites), or have a notable characteristic that differentiates them from other rumors. An example of the former would be the Grinch Leak from Ultimate (which not only caused widespread debate throughout SmashBoards and social media sites about its legitimacy up to the release of Ultimate, but was also covered by mainstream gaming sites), while an example of the latter would be the Lucina rumor for Smash 4 (as it was the first faked leak that utilize mods, which would become a common trend for faking leaks of varying effort).
4. If a rumor is confirmed to be a factual, it belongs on the List of leaks article (https://www.ssbwiki.com/List_of_leaks), not here.
5. If a rumor is removed and you believe it to be notable, outline on the talk page of this article for why you think it is notable. DO NOT IMMEDIATELY EDIT THE RUMOR IN QUESTION BACK INTO THE ARTICLE.
6. The examples on this page are listed in roughly chronological order. If possible, attempt to continue this trend.-->


===Radio interview rumor===
===Radio interview rumor===
Shortly after ''Brawl'''s announcement, a rumor claimed that in a radio interview, Masahiro Sakurai confirmed that [[Ridley]], a [[Toon Link|cel-shaded Link]], and [[Bowser Jr.]] would be playable characters. Coinciding with this was the rumor of [[Young Link]], the [[Ice Climbers]], and [[Mr. Game & Watch]] being dropped. This was proven to be false; while Toon Link does replace Young Link in ''Brawl'' as the second Link, Ridley appears as a [[boss]] instead of a playable character, Bowser Jr. only appears as a [[sticker]] and [[trophy]], and Mr. Game & Watch and the Ice Climbers returned as playable characters in ''Brawl''.  
Shortly after ''Brawl''{{'}}s announcement, a rumor claimed that in a radio interview, Masahiro Sakurai confirmed that [[Ridley]], a [[Toon Link|cel-shaded Link]], and [[Bowser Jr.]] would be playable characters. Coinciding with this was the rumor of [[Young Link]], the [[Ice Climbers]], and [[Mr. Game & Watch]] being dropped. This was proven to be false; while {{SSBB|Toon Link}} does replace Young Link in ''Brawl'' as the second Link, Ridley appears as a [[boss]] instead of a playable character, Bowser Jr. only appears as a [[sticker]] and [[trophy]], and Mr. Game & Watch and the Ice Climbers returned as playable characters in ''Brawl''.


Coincidentally, Bowser Jr. [[Bowser Jr. (SSB4)|was later playable in]] ''[[SSB4]]'', with technical limitations of the [[Nintendo 3DS]] also causing the Ice Climbers to be cut from the game; despite this, Ridley did not become a playable character until ''[[Ultimate]]'', and Mr. Game & Watch still returned from ''Brawl''.
Coincidentally, Bowser Jr. [[Bowser Jr. (SSB4)|was later playable in]] ''[[Smash 4]]'', with technical limitations of the [[Nintendo 3DS]] also causing the Ice Climbers to be cut from the game; despite this, Ridley did not become a playable character until ''[[Ultimate]]'', and Mr. Game & Watch still returned in every game after ''Brawl''.


===''Animal Crossing'' characters rumors===
===''Animal Crossing'' characters rumors===
During the development of ''Brawl'', multiple rumors suggested that a character from ''Animal Crossing'', such as the generic playable character (termed an "Animal Crosser") or [[Tom Nook]], would be playable in ''Brawl''. A statement was reportedly made by Sakurai on the matter, which claimed that "On one hand, they have an innocent charm to them that could be ruined if they were in a fighting game"; the veracity of this statement, however, is disputed. Despite the lack of a playable character, ''Animal Crossing'' is strongly represented in ''Brawl'' by [[List of SSBB Music (Animal Crossing series)|some music tracks]], trophies, stickers, [[Mr. Resetti|an Assist Trophy]], [[Smashville|a stage]], and numerous cameos on said stage.  
During the development of ''Brawl'', multiple rumors suggested that a character from ''Animal Crossing'', such as the generic playable character (termed an "Animal Crosser") or [[Tom Nook]], would be playable in ''Brawl''. A statement was reportedly made by Sakurai on the matter, which claimed that "On one hand, they have an innocent charm to them that could be ruined if they were in a fighting game"; the veracity of this statement, however, is disputed. Despite the lack of a playable character, ''Animal Crossing'' is strongly represented in ''Brawl'' by [[List of SSBB Music (Animal Crossing series)|some music tracks]], trophies, stickers, [[Mr. Resetti|an Assist Trophy]], [[Smashville|a stage]], and numerous cameos on said stage.


An ''Animal Crossing'' [[Villager]] eventually became a playable character in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''; an [http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/26/4465706/masahiro-sakurai-discusses-mega-man-smash-bros-s-other-new-characters interview with Sakurai] also states that the Villager was considered for inclusion in ''Brawl'', but the idea was rejected because "he wasn't suited for battle".
An ''Animal Crossing'' [[Villager]] eventually became a playable character in ''Smash 4''; an [http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/26/4465706/masahiro-sakurai-discusses-mega-man-smash-bros-s-other-new-characters interview with Sakurai] also states that the Villager was considered for inclusion in ''Brawl'', but the idea was rejected because "he wasn't suited for battle".


===Assist trophy rumors===
===Assist trophy rumors===
Towards the end of 2007, the [http://www.whobby.com/ Whobby Game Festival] occurred in Japan; among its primary points of interests was that a playable demo of ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' would be available for play by attendants. Due to the event taking place only in Japan, a region with relatively little representation in most English-speaking websites, such as [[Smashboards]], updates on the game were sparse and difficult to confirm. The most well-known claim, however, stated that [[Assist Trophies]] of [[Rosalina]] from ''{{s|mariowiki|Super Mario Galaxy}}'', [[Duster]] from ''{{s|wikibound|Mother 3}}'', and [[wikipedia:Mole Mania|Muddy Mole]] from ''Mole Mania'' would be featured in the game.
Towards the end of 2007, the [http://www.whobby.com/ Whobby Game Festival] occurred in Japan; among its primary points of interests was that a playable demo of ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' would be available for play by attendants. Due to the event taking place only in Japan, a region with relatively little representation in most English-speaking websites, such as [[Smashboards]], updates on the game were sparse and difficult to confirm. The most well-known claim, however, stated that [[Assist Trophies]] of [[Rosalina]] from ''{{s|mariowiki|Super Mario Galaxy}}'', [[Duster]] from ''{{s|wikibound|Mother 3}}'', and [[wikipedia:Mole Mania|Muddy Mole]] from ''Mole Mania'' would be featured in the game.


Amid an increase in English-speakers that played demos at events, as well as the release of the game, the rumor was proven false, and further hacking of the game proved that no such evidence of the trio were even planned to be included. It is unknown if the trophies were mistaken for other gameplay elements (such as [[Gardevoir]] being confused for Rosalina) or if these claims were deliberately hoaxed to fool players.
Amid an increase in English-speakers that played demos at events, as well as the release of the game, the rumor was proven false, and further hacking of the game proved that no such evidence of the trio were even planned to be included. It is unknown if the trophies were mistaken for other support characters (such as [[Gardevoir]] being confused for Rosalina or [[Mr. Resetti]] being confused for Muddy) or if these claims were deliberately hoaxed to fool players. Incidentally, Rosalina would become playable starting with ''Smash 4''.
 
===Third-party character rumors===
Sakurai said that, after Sonic and Snake, there might be a third third-party character; prior to Sonic's announcement, he also claimed that "one or two" other third-party characters would appear. This led many players speculating that another third party character was guaranteed to be included. Popular options included [[Mega Man]] (who later appeared in ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''), [[Geno]] (who was a [[Alternate costume (SSB4)#Wave 4|Mii Fighter costume]] in ''Smash 4''), Leon S. Kennedy from the ''Resident Evil'' series, or a second {{uv|Sonic}} character. However, none of these characters were included in ''Brawl'', and until ''SSB4'' there were only two third-party fighters in ''Smash''.
 
After [[Pac-Man]] was revealed for ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', Sakurai stated that, during the development of ''Brawl'', [[Shigeru Miyamoto]] asked him if Pac-Man could be playable in the game. Thinking of Pac-Man's pizza shape, Sakurai rejected the idea, thinking at the time putting in Pac-Man with said shape was "a little too farfetched<ref>[http://mynintendonews.com/2014/07/03/miyamoto-requested-pac-man-in-smash-bros-brawl/ Miyamoto Requested Pac-Man in Smash Bros. Brawl]</ref>." Furthermore, after the release of ''Brawl'', Sakurai stated in an interview that [[Unused_content_(SSBB)#Considered|he had considered]] including [[Geno]] as a playable character in the game, though the plans ultimately fell through for unknown reasons.


===Downloadable content rumor===
===Downloadable content rumor===
Shortly after ''Brawl'' was released in America, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080703174210/http://press-nintendo.110mb.com/article-jsp-id-14788.htm a newspost] appeared on the Internet, claiming that ''Brawl'' would feature four downloadable characters and two downloadable stages, as well as a new Wii Channel of "Wii Want More". The discovery of [[Beta elements (SSBB)#Scrapped characters|multiple unused character files]] present in the game also added credence to the rumor, under the assumption that the empty files rendered it easier to create add-on content.
Shortly after ''Brawl'' was released in America, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080703174210/http://press-nintendo.110mb.com/article-jsp-id-14788.htm a newspost] appeared on the internet, claiming that ''Brawl'' would feature four downloadable characters and two downloadable stages, as well as a new Wii Channel of "Wii Want More". The discovery of [[Beta elements (SSBB)#Scrapped characters|multiple unused character files]] present in the game also added credence to the rumor, under the assumption that the empty files rendered it easier to create add-on content.


The rumor was quickly proven as false; Masahiro Sakurai himself stated that downloadable content would never be coming for ''Brawl'', as the Wii's flash-based internal hardware is incapable of patching or otherwise modifying a game based on a downloaded file. The supposed release date of 13 May 2008 also passed without a "Wii Want More" channel being released or announced. Additionally, in a vein similar to the Toad rumor, the site was hosted on 110MB, a hosting site where anyone on the Internet can publish content. However, [[downloadable content]] would become a prominent part of ''Super Smash Bros. 4''.
The rumor was quickly proven as false; Masahiro Sakurai himself stated that downloadable content would never be coming for ''Brawl'', as the Wii's flash-based internal hardware is incapable of patching or otherwise modifying a game based on a downloaded file; though ''{{iw|zeldawiki|The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword}}'' would later have a [[zeldawiki:The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Save Data Update Channel|Wii channel]] dedicated to fixing a bug that prevented game progression, this was not a proper downloadable patch, and instead fixed the user's save data for the game. The supposed release date of 13 May 2008 also passed without a "Wii Want More" channel being released or announced. Additionally, in a vein similar to the Toad rumor, the site was hosted on 110MB, a hosting site where anyone on the internet can publish content. However, [[downloadable content]] would become a prominent part of subsequent games, starting with ''Super Smash Bros. 4''.
 
===''Brawl'' is the last game rumor===
During the development of ''Brawl'', Sakurai reportedly said statements along the lines that he was making Brawl as the last installment in the Super Smash Bros. series. Additionally, some advertisements had the tagline of "One brawl to end them all!". This led several to believe that ''Brawl'' was the last installment. The rumor, however, is taken out of context; Sakurai stated he was making ''Brawl'' '''like''' it was the last one, not that it '''was''' going to be the last. Additionally, Sakurai said that ''Melee'' would have been the last installment on [[Smabura-Ken]], and that did not hold true. This rumor was ultimately proven false at E3 2011, where a new ''Super Smash Bros.'' title was announced for both the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U consoles; development started in February 2012 and ended up being {{for3ds}} and {{forwiiu}} respectively.
 
===[[Artificial intelligence]] rumors===
While still suffering flaws like its predecessor, CPUs within ''Brawl'' came under scrutiny by members of the ''Brawl'' community after analyzing the behavior of them within fights. Two primary theories surrounding the AI eventually became commonplace:
 
#That the CPU was able to read inputs from human players and thus have perfect reaction times, explaining the CPUs excessive propensity to [[perfect shield]].
#That a "learning system" existed within ''Brawl's'' code that allowed computer players to slowly learn to adapt to human players.
 
The former rumor was especially controversial, as many smashers thought that allowing the AI to "cheat" was an unfair tactic, and such a programming decision was considered lazy. The American crew [[SLAPAHO]] attempted to see whether or not CPUs had perfect reaction times, but their results were eventually declared inconclusive, and more tests were intended to be carried out; inactivity by the group, however, caused these further tests to never occur. In 2013, Canadian smasher {{Sm|Toomai}} analyzed [[Talk:Artificial_intelligence#The_latest_claimed_AI_cheating_proof|various animated GIFs of CPUs]] responding to aerial attacks; it was ultimately demonstrated that CPUs had a reaction time of one frame, and thus, did not read button inputs to form decisions.
 
The second rumor was primarily spread by a [[Nintendo Dojo]] blog post by American smasher Churro; entitled "The Wonders of Brawl's CPU Experience System", Churro claimed that CPUs in ''Brawl'' could learn from human players, with such changes being unique from different save files for ''Brawl''. Churro provided video examples of these supposed changes, such as how a CPU {{SSBB|Captain Falcon}} began to more frequently use [[Falcon Punch]] following an all-Captain Falcon match featuring overuse of the move. Other videos by other smashers also appeared to show CPUs using tactics such as [[dash dancing]] and [[DACUS]]es.
 
Initially widely believed, advances in the hacking scene for ''Brawl'' have since disproven the existence of a learning system for CPUs:
*Tests showed that there were no differences in CPU behavior from save files that were over several hundred hours old versus fresh save files; comparisons of two files with significant playtime also showed no differences, when such a case was supposed to have significantly different playstyles.
*Disassembling [[Replay]] files showed that no CPU inputs are saved in the file, only human inputs; as such, this meant that whenever a replay was played back, it meant that the CPU would have to react the same way every time in order to prevent desyncing. A learning system could potentially cause CPUs to react differently in replays, thus further disproving the rumor.
*Disassembling the ''Brawl'' save file showed that there were no flags or other notes about the AI.
*Disassembly of the game's AI demonstrated no coding for learning from human players.
*Videos demonstrating that the AI could learn are thought to have suffered from {{s|wikipedia|confirmation bias}}; what were thought to be cases of the AI learning were cases of the AI performing as expected, including specific overuse of some attacks.
 
A learning system similar to the above would eventually be used by [[amiibo]] in ''Super Smash Bros. 4'', though no such learning system exists outside of this.


==Rumors about ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''==
==Rumors about ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]''==
<!-- READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES BEFORE ADDING ANY RUMORS:
<!-- READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES BEFORE ADDING ANY RUMORS:
1. This article exists to document NOTABLE rumors. As such, any rumors added to this page must have some degree of notability for them to stay.
1. This article exists to document NOTABLE rumors. As such, any rumors added to this page must have a substantial degree of notability for them to stay.
2. Check to see whether or not the rumor is on the page in the first place. Character rosters, for instance, are covered in the "General" section, and thus, do not require placement on any other sections of the page.
2. Check to see whether or not the rumor is on the page in the first place.
3. Notability of rumors should involve either having significant speculation and/or spread in the community (such as large threads on the SmashWorld Forums or coverage by notable gaming-related newssites), or have a notable characteristic that differentiates them from other rumors. An example of the former would be the Leon S. Kennedy rumor from Brawl (owing to its presence on the large site of IMDB and its recognition in Wikipedia's now-discontinued FAQ for Brawl's page), while an example of the latter would be the Lucina rumor for SSB4 (as it was the first rumor for ''SSB4'' that involved the use of hacks for Brawl).
3. Notability of rumors should involve either having significant speculation and/or spread in the community (such as large threads on SmashBoards or coverage by notable gaming-related news sites), or have a notable characteristic that differentiates them from other rumors. An example of the former would be the Grinch Leak from Ultimate (which not only caused widespread debate throughout SmashBoards and social media sites about its legitimacy up to the release of Ultimate, but was also covered by mainstream gaming sites), while an example of the latter would be the Lucina rumor for Smash 4 (as it was the first faked leak that utilize mods, which would become a common trend for faking leaks of varying effort).
4. If a rumor is either confirmed as factual or fictional, then update the specific section as to reflect this. DO NOT REMOVE SECTIONS FROM THE PAGE IF THEY ARE PROVEN AS TRUE OR FALSE.
4. If a rumor is confirmed to be a factual, it belongs on the List of leaks article (https://www.ssbwiki.com/List_of_leaks), not here.
5. If a rumor is removed and you believe it to be notable, outline on the talk page of this article for why you think it is notable. DO NOT IMMEDIATELY RE-ADD THE RUMOR IN QUESTION.
5. If a rumor is removed and you believe it to be notable, outline on the talk page of this article for why you think it is notable. DO NOT IMMEDIATELY EDIT THE RUMOR IN QUESTION BACK INTO THE ARTICLE.
6. The examples on this page are listed in roughly chronological order. If possible, attempt to continue this trend.-->
6. The examples on this page are listed in roughly chronological order. If possible, attempt to continue this trend.-->


===''Super Smash Bros. Universe'' rumor===
===''Super Smash Bros. Universe'' rumor===
[[File:Universe Document.jpg|right|250px|thumb|A picture of the document leading to the Super Smash Bros. Universe rumor.]]
[[File:Universe Document.jpg|thumb|250px|A picture of the document leading to the Super Smash Bros. Universe rumor.]]
Shortly after the official announcement of the fourth ''Super Smash Bros.'', an image circulated around the Internet detailing what appeared to be an advertisement or design document that was said to be from the official Nintendo headquarters in Japan for "''Super Smash Bros. Universe''"; multiple imageboards worked to translate the document, leading to some supposed preliminary idea for the games.<ref>http://www.tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-brief/58593-wii-u-game-super-smash-bros-universe-leaked</ref> Sakurai, however, stated that he had not begun working on the new ''Smash Bros.'' at the time and was focusing on ''Kid Icarus Uprising''; the documents were later finally disproven when it was demonstrated that the game's title would not be ''Super Smash Bros. Universe''.
Shortly after the official announcement of the fourth ''Super Smash Bros.'', an image circulated around the internet detailing what appeared to be an advertisement or design document that was said to be from the official Nintendo headquarters in Japan for "''Super Smash Bros. Universe''"; multiple imageboards worked to translate the document, leading to some supposed preliminary idea for the games.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20130527174817/https://tgdaily.com/games-and-entertainment-brief/58593-wii-u-game-super-smash-bros-universe-leaked</ref> Sakurai, however, stated that he had not begun working on the new ''Smash Bros.'' at the time and was focusing on ''Kid Icarus Uprising''; the documents were later finally disproven when it was demonstrated that the game's title would not be ''Super Smash Bros. Universe''.
 
===Namco worker rumor===
On 12 December 2012, [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-wii-u/64901335 a thread] on [[GameFAQs]] was started by a user named Halibuton; the user claimed that he worked for [[Namco]] and had some information told to him by his co-workers concerning the development of ''Super Smash Bros. 4''.
 
Halibuton claimed that there would be a Nintendo Direct on the fifth anniversary of ''Brawl''{{'}}s Japanese release (31 January 2013) and said it would be centered around ''Smash 4'', though likely more of a series retrospective with minor new info than a full-blown reveal trailer. He also said that he knew a bit about the early roster and claimed to know a few newcomers: [[Takamaru]] from ''{{uv|The Mysterious Murasame Castle}}'' and [[Little Mac]] (chosen as recent-popularity classics and an "East vs. West" concept supposedly due to previous games featuring too many Japan-exclusive characters) as well as [[King K. Rool]] and [[Ridley]] (chosen due to popular demand and having movesets based on more recent games). Other claimed, less-finalized newcomers are [[Shulk]] from ''{{uv|Xenoblade}}'', [[Dillon]] from ''{{uv|Dillon's Rolling Western}}'', [[Ghirahim]] from the [[The Legend of Zelda (universe)|''Legend of Zelda'' series]], a "Debu" from the at the time rumor-only ''{{s|mariowiki|Yoshi's Woolly World}}'' (supposedly a partner of [[Yoshi]], with "Debu" possibly being just a nickname or placeholder), and a {{s|wikipedia|Platinum Games}} character possibly from ''{{s|wikipedia|The Wonderful 101}}''. Aside from characters, multiple stages were listed: Starship Mario (''Super Mario Galaxy 2'', later confirmed as background scenery in [[Mario Galaxy]]), Giant Chasm (''Pokémon Black 2/White 2''), Pushmo Park (''Pushmo''), and Cookie Country (''Kirby's Return to Dream Land'').
 
Halibuton's claimed date for the reveal of 31 January 2013, however, ultimately passed without a Nintendo Direct presentation, significant news about ''Smash 4'', or mentions of any of the aforementioned characters, thus ultimately disproving the rumor after two months of speculation. {{SSB4|Little Mac}}, {{SSB4|Shulk}}, and a {{s|wikipedia|Platinum Games}} representative, {{SSB4|Bayonetta}} would eventually be confirmed as newcomers, while Takamaru, Dillon, and Ghirahim would later be confirmed as [[Assist Trophy|Assist Trophies]]. Ridley would later be confirmed as a stage boss on [[Pyrosphere]] and would only later appear as a playable character in [[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]].
 
===Gematsu leaks===
{{main|Gematsu leaks}}
 
Before E3 2013, the owner of the gaming site [http://gematsu.com/ Gematsu], Sal Romano, claimed to have received an email from an anonymous source claiming to know which [[newcomer]]s would be introduced at E3 2013. Initially doubting the veracity of the letter, Romano jokingly posted the list to NeoGAF as a "unlikely prediction". Among the predicted newcomers were an ''{{uv|Animal Crossing}}'' {{SSB4|Villager}}; [[Capcom]]'s {{SSB4|Mega Man}}; the [[Wii Fit Trainer (SSB4)|female trainer]] from ''{{uv|Wii Fit}}''; {{SSB4|Little Mac}} from ''[[Punch-Out!!]]''; [[Nintendo]]'s [[Mii Fighter (SSB4)|Mii]]; and [[Namco]]'s {{SSB4|Pac-Man}}.<ref>http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/66442330</ref>
 
To the surprise of many observers, including Romano himself, the leak successfully predicted the reveal of the Villager, Mega Man, and female Wii Fit Trainer. This successful prediction, especially of the Wii Fit Trainer, would lead to a following of the leak and the subsequent leaks reported by Romano. With the leaks getting every newcomer right except for {{SSB4|Rosalina}}, and failing to get any character completely wrong for over a year, the majority of observers treated the leaker as fully legitimate, with many seeing the characters implicated by the leaker as inevitable. The leaker's credibility was ultimately shattered when one of their implicated playable characters, [[Chrom]], was disconfirmed in the 14 July reveal trailer, while two revealed playable characters, {{SSB4|Robin}} and {{SSB4|Lucina}}, were never implicated by the leaker.
 
In June 2015, Sakurai revealed in the ''Famitsu'' column that he did originally consider adding Chrom as a playable character, and even planned a moveset for him, but ultimately decided he would not be unique enough from [[Marth]] and [[Ike]] to justify an inclusion. <ref name="sourceChrom">{{cite web |url=https://sourcegaming.info/2015/07/04/chromsmash4/ |title=Chrom Almost Had His Day |accessdate=2018-04-19 |author=PushDustIn |date=2014-06-04 |publisher=''Source Gaming'' }}</ref> Coincidentally, Chrom became a playable character in ''Ultimate'', albeit as an [[Echo Fighter]] for Roy, reinforcing Sakurai's hypothesis.


===Lucina hoax===
===Lucina hoax===
[[File:LucinaRumor.jpg|150px|thumb|left|{{SSB4|Mario}} and Lucina appear to fight on the Great Sea.]]
[[File:LucinaRumor.jpg|150px|thumb|left|{{SSB4|Mario}} and Lucina appear to fight on the Great Sea.]]
An [http://allisbrawl.com/blogpost.aspx?id=151886 AllIsBrawl post] made on 25 June 2013 claimed that an image had been leaked on the ''Smash 4'' website, presumably from the "image of the day". The image shows Mario and [[Lucina]] (from ''{{s|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem Awakening}}'') on a {{s|zeldawiki|Fairy Isle}} in the {{s|zeldawiki|Great Sea}}. There was no evidence on the site, however; the image of the day instead featured {{SSB4|Link}} doing an aerial [[Spin Attack]] in Skyloft.
An [[All is Brawl]] [http://allisbrawl.com/blogpost.aspx?id=151886 blog post] made on the 25th of June in 2013 claimed that an image had been leaked on the ''Smash 4'' website, presumably from the "image of the day". The image shows Mario and [[Lucina]] (from ''{{s|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem Awakening}}'') on a {{s|zeldawiki|Fairy Isle}} in the {{s|zeldawiki|Great Sea}}. There was no evidence on the site, however; the image of the day instead featured {{SSB4|Link}} doing an aerial [[Spin Attack]] in [[Skyloft]].


This image, while initially appearing to be legitimate, was actually compiled using a variety of [[File replacement|elaborate hacks available for ''Brawl'']]. The stage seen in the image is a [http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=32175 Fairy Isle hacked stage], and the Mario in the image uses a [[texture hack]] to make his model more closely resemble his newer model in ''Super Smash Bros. 4''; Lucina herself is identical to a [[Project Smash Attacks]] hack seen in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP6QwuDjQYs "The Lucina PSA"]. While not particularly widespread outside [[All is Brawl]], the hoax was the first to showcase the level of elaboration that ''Brawl'' hacks bring to rumor producers; later hoaxed images were made with similar techniques, and other hoaxes were often compared to existing ''Brawl'' hacks to check for their credibility.
This image, while initially appearing to be legitimate, was actually compiled using a variety of [[File replacement|elaborate mods available for ''Brawl'']]. The stage seen in the image is a [http://forums.kc-mm.com/Gallery/BrawlView.php?Number=32175 Fairy Isle modded stage], and the Mario in the image uses a [[texture hack]] to make his model more closely resemble his newer model in ''Smash 4''; Lucina herself is identical to a [[Project Smash Attacks]] mod seen in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP6QwuDjQYs "The Lucina PSA"]. While this rumor did not become particularly widespread outside All is Brawl and was debunked fairly quickly, the hoax was the first to showcase the level of elaboration that ''Brawl'' mods bring to rumor producers; many later hoaxed images would similarly use mods to try making their faked leaks look more realistic, and purported leaks consisting of game screenshots or videos were often compared to already existing ''Brawl'' mods to check for their credibility.


{{SSB4|Lucina}} was confirmed to be a playable character on 14 July 2014, over one year after the faked image was first posted.
While this rumor was false, {{SSB4|Lucina}} would later be confirmed to be a playable character on July 14th, 2014, alongside {{SSB4|Robin}}, over one year after the faked image was first posted. Expectedly, she did not at all resemble her appearance in the hoaxed image, further establishing that the image was a hoax.
 
===Ness and Jigglypuff hoax=== 
{{ImageCaption|File:Ness and Jigglypuff hoax.png|File:Ness SSB4 Hoax.png|File:NessJigglypuffFakeImage.jpg|width1=120x120px|width2=99x99px|width3=72x72px|align  = right|caption='''Left Image:''' The false image of Jigglypuff and<br>Ness in the 3DS version of SSB4.<br>'''Center Image:''' False official artwork of Ness from ''SSB4''.<br>'''Right Image:''' An image comparing the Ness and Jigglypuff<br>leak with an official screenshot, proving the leak as false.}}
In November 2013, two supposedly leaked images of Ness and Jigglypuff in ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' began to circulate on ''Smash''-related message boards and other resources. One of these images depicted the "official" artwork of Ness for ''Smash 4'', while the other picture featured both Ness and Jigglypuff standing on the [[Battlefield]] stage in the 3DS version. The gameplay image, however, was proven fake after cross-checking it with an actual image of Link and {{SSB4|Toon Link}} standing on the same stage; numerous graphical differences could be seen between the two images, primarily in regards to the rendering of the outlines and shadows in the faked image.
 
Both characters were later unofficially confirmed after the game's Japanese release. Ness's actual artwork in the game, however, differs from the false artwork. Furthermore, Jigglypuff's model in the final game is different from the hoaxed images, particularly in regards to the size and spacing of its eyes.
 
Ironically, Ness's [[:File:Ness SSBU.png|official artwork]] from ''[[Ultimate]]'' resembles the artwork from this fake leak, though with his left arm at his side instead of being outstretched.


===Palutena hoax===
===Palutena hoax===
[[File:Smash.4 - Palutena Rumor.png|150px|thumb|left|The purported images of Palutena.]]
[[File:Smash.4 - Palutena Rumor.png|150px|thumb|left|The purported images of Palutena.]]
 
On 22 January 2014, two supposedly leaked images of [[Palutena]] in the 3DS version of ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' began to circulate on the internet. The veracity of the images were immediately questioned, though some observers noted that the model and poses used by Palutena were not seen in any previous photo, and unlike the Lucina rumor, no hacks available for ''Brawl'' could replicate the image seen. Of particular note is that after the two images were released, a series of [[Media:Smash.4 - Viridi Stage Hazard.jpg|''Kid Icarus'']]-[[Media:Kid Icarus WiiU Stage.jpg|related]] [[Media:Smash.4 - Colliding Projectiles.jpg|images]] were released on Miiverse, leading some observers to speculate that Sakurai was aware of the Palutena images.
On 22 January 2014, two supposedly leaked images of [[Palutena]] in the 3DS version of ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' began to circulate on the internet. The veracity of the images were immediately questioned, though some observers noted that the model and poses used by Palutena were not seen in any previous photo, and unlike the Lucina rumor, no hacks available for ''Brawl'' could replicate the image seen. Of particular note is that after the two images were released, a series of [[:File:Smash.4 - Viridi Stage Hazard.jpg|''Kid Icarus'']]-[[:File:Kid Icarus WiiU Stage.jpg|related]] [[:File:Smash.4 - Colliding Projectiles.jpg|images]] were released on Miiverse, leading some observers to speculate that Sakurai was aware of the Palutena images.  
[[File:PalutenaHoaxModels.png|99px|thumb|The models used in the hoaxed images.]]
[[File:PalutenaHoaxModels.png|99px|thumb|right|The models used in the hoaxed images.]]
During the 2014 E3 event, Nintendo confirmed {{SSB4|Palutena}}'s inclusion in the game, and gameplay footage of her was also shown; despite this, several differences between the models used in the rumored photos and the actual game were observed, which led to debate over whether or not the images were legitimate in the first place. The images were finally revealed hoaxes in a thread on 4chan concerning the {{H2|Leak|ESRB leak}}; Mario and Palutena were created in an external program and these models were later digitally manipulated to resemble those from ''Super Smash Bros. 4''.
During the 2014 E3 event, Nintendo confirmed {{SSB4|Palutena}}'s inclusion in the game, and gameplay footage of her was also shown; despite this, several differences between the models used in the rumored photos and the actual game were observed, which led to debate over whether or not the images were legitimate in the first place. The images were finally revealed hoaxes in a thread on 4chan concerning the {{H2|Leak|ESRB leak}}; Mario and Palutena were created in an external program and these models were later digitally manipulated to resemble those from ''Super Smash Bros. 4''.
===Raiden leak===
In early April 2014, {{s|wikipedia|Reuben Langdon}}, a voice actor known for voicing [[Ken Masters]] in the {{uv|Street Fighter}} series and {{Iw|wikipedia|Dante|Devil May Cry}} in the ''{{s|wikipedia|Devil May Cry}}'' series, claimed in an interview that he had voiced {{Iw|wikipedia|Raiden|Metal Gear}} from the {{uv|Metal Gear}} series in ''Super Smash Bros.''<ref>http://mynintendonews.com/2014/04/03/voice-actor-says-he-voiced-raiden-in-super-smash-bros/</ref>. As Raiden's only appearance in ''Brawl'' was as a [[sticker]] (also mentioned in Iroquois Pliskin's trophy description), this seemed to leak Raiden having some sort of major role in ''SSB4'', as well as indirectly confirming the return of [[Snake]] and their [[Metal Gear (universe)|respective universe]]. When the news was first announced, some observers believed he was mistaking ''Super Smash Bros.'' for ''{{s|wikipedia|PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale}}'', a Sony equivalent to ''Super Smash Bros.'' that featured Raiden as a playable character. This potential confusion, however, initially was eliminated when it was demonstrated that Raiden's voice actor in the game was {{s|wikipedia|Quinton Flynn}}, not Reuben Langdon. Langdon, however, would later reignite this confusion himself:
{{cquote|Oh, the all-stars battle Royale was the one I was in. Lol! Yep. Totally got them confused.|cite=Reuben Langdon|source=http://www.gonintendo.com/s/225510-raiden-not-appearing-in-smash-bros-wii-u-3ds}}
Langdon, who also does {{s|wikipedia|motion capture}} work for video games, additionally claimed he was referring to motion capture work. However, no official source credits Langdon as having done any such work in ''PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale'', and the credits of that game do not list individual actors that performed motion capture work. As such, it was speculated by some that Langdon may have been trying to cover up an inadvertent leak by falsely confirming the mix-up.
Ultimately, the rumor was proven false when the Japanese version of {{for3ds}} was released. Snake did not return for ''SSB4'', Raiden did not make any appearances, and the ''Metal Gear'' universe does not have any representation in the game, suggesting that Langdon was in fact referencing ''PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale''. However, he eventually would appear in the ''Smash'' series, though not as Raiden, as he reprised his role as Ken in ''Ultimate''.


===Chunky Kong hoax===
===Chunky Kong hoax===
[[File:ChunkyKongHoax.jpg|thumb|right|Farcical "proof" of Chunky Kong's appearance in ''Super Smash Bros. 4''. The image itself is a modified still from the {{s|wikipedia|Patterson-Gimlin film}}.]]
[[File:ChunkyKongHoax.jpg|thumb|Farcical "proof" of Chunky Kong's appearance in ''Super Smash Bros. 4''. The image itself is a modified still from the {{s|wikipedia|Patterson-Gimlin film}}.]]
During the [[E3 2014]] demo and ensuing [[Smash-Fest]], people reported seeing many previously unrevealed [[Assist Trophies]], such as [[Shadow]], [[Tingle]], and [[Magnus]]. While these reports ended up being later confirmed by video evidence, one particular character implicated in these reports, [[Chunky Kong]] from ''Donkey Kong 64'', completely eluded any sort of video or photographic evidence. Despite the lack of evidence, people initially generally believed this report, as it came from multiple independent sources, that even fully described his effect as "slamming the ground to make bananas fall from the sky". However, [[Smash-Fest]] passed without any sort of video or photographic evidence of Chunky Kong, and with the lack of direct or indirect confirmation from Sakurai, it became doubted if these reports were entirely telling the truth. Chunky Kong later became a minor in-joke within the ''Smash'' community; with the lack of any sort of concrete evidence to prove the character's existence despite multiple claims to the contrary, the character was  [[:File:ChunkyKongHoax1.png|jokingly]] [[:File:ChunkyKongHoax2.png|compared]] to {{s|wikipedia|Bigfoot}}, a famous North American {{s|wikipedia|cryptid}}.
During the [[E3 2014]] demo and ensuing [[Smash-Fest]], people reported seeing many previously unrevealed [[Assist Trophies]], such as [[Shadow]], [[Tingle]], and [[Magnus]]. While these reports ended up being later confirmed by video evidence, one particular character implicated in these reports, [[Chunky Kong]] from ''Donkey Kong 64'', completely eluded any sort of video or photographic evidence. Despite the lack of evidence, people initially generally believed this report, as it came from multiple independent sources, that even fully described his effect as "slamming the ground to make bananas fall from the sky". However, [[Smash-Fest]] passed without any sort of video or photographic evidence of Chunky Kong, and with the lack of direct or indirect confirmation from Sakurai, it became doubted if these reports were entirely telling the truth. Chunky Kong later became a minor in-joke within the ''Smash'' community; with the lack of any sort of concrete evidence to prove the character's existence despite multiple claims to the contrary, the character was  [[Media:ChunkyKongHoax1.png|jokingly]] [[Media:ChunkyKongHoax2.png|compared]] to {{s|wikipedia|Bigfoot}}, a famous North American {{s|wikipedia|cryptid}}.
 
After [[Comic-Con 2014]] passed, with there still being no visual evidence of Chunky Kong despite the tens of hours of new gameplay footage being seen, the Chunky Kong Assist Trophy was generally regarded as a false report, though it was not known if it was intentionally falsified information, or inadvertently mistaken with another gameplay element. The rumor was ultimately proven completely false after both the Japanese release of {{for3ds}} and the North American release of {{forwiiu}}, where Chunky Kong was still absent. About a month after ''Smash 4'''s release on Wii U, the poster who first reported the Chunky Kong Assist Trophy [http://smashboards.com/threads/k-rools-kremling-kutthroats-request-the-king-in-your-smash-club-nintendo-forms-today.324259/page-516#post-18244015 confessed to fabricating the claim]; he initially intended to use the false piece of information to help himself catch fake leaks, as well as see how many people would repeat his seemingly outlandish claim.
 
===Rayman leak===
On 1 August 2014, Nintendo of Canada held a session for ''Super Smash Bros. 4'', where Matt Ryan, a manager of communications, marketing, and alliances of the Canadian division of the company, said the following statement during the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiWdJcEEC7s#t=120 session] that suggested Rayman was in the game as a playable character:
 
{{cquote|So Pac-Man is one of the new characters we announced at E3 2014, people are pretty excited about that, most excited about that. '''''Rayman''''' and a whole bunch of others.|cite=Matt Ryan}}
 
This led to new speculation that Rayman was in ''Smash 4'' as a playable character, rather than just the trophy depicting him. However, it is also speculated it may have been an honest slip-up, with confusion stemming from the common suffix of "Man". Shortly after the sentence, Nintendo of Canada would later clarify that Matt Ryan was referring to the previously seen Rayman trophy.<ref>http://mynintendonews.com/2014/08/03/nintendo-canada-confirms-rayman-wont-be-playable-in-smash-bros-but-will-appear-as-a-trophy/</ref> However, like with the Reuben Langdon slipup above, some observers believed it to be a false confirmation as to cover up an inadvertent leak; the release of the game in Japan, however, proved that the supposed confirmation of Rayman as playable was a mental blunder on Ryan's part.
 
===Tower of Smash hoax===
Roughly a month prior to the release of {{Forwiiu}}, a notable rumor began to circulate forums and Smashboards, concerning the ability to connect the 3DS version to the Wii U version, as well as extra information about the Wii U version.


The Tower of Smash rumor claimed that the Wii U version of the game would feature 40 new stages, alongside 15 "past" stages and a few stages shared with the 3DS version, such as [[Magicant]]; in addition to these stages, the [[Stage Builder]] was claimed to have returned from ''Brawl'' after being left out of the 3DS version, and the mode would feature improvements, such as no longer restricting players to one "theme". Arguably the most notable claimed addition was that of a "Tower of Smash" mode. A replacement for the [[Event Match]]es that were absent in the 3DS version, the Tower of Smash involved a 100-floor tower which tasked the player, with four characters of their choice, continuously taking part in one-on-one stock battles, with some matches having random modifiers. Various boss battles were also implicated, which would feature characters from outside series, such as {{S|wikirby|Dyna Blade}} from the ''Kirby'' series. These bosses would also make up a new "Boss Rush" mode as somewhat of a successor to the [[Boss Battles]] from ''Brawl''.
After E3 2014 passed, with there still being no visual evidence of Chunky Kong despite the tens of hours of new gameplay footage being seen, the Chunky Kong Assist Trophy was generally regarded as a false report, though it was not known if it was intentionally falsified information, or inadvertently mistaken with another gameplay element. The rumor was ultimately proven completely false after both the Japanese release of {{for3ds}} and the American release of {{forwiiu}}, where Chunky Kong was still absent. About a month after ''Smash 4''{{'}}s release on Wii U, the poster who first reported the Chunky Kong Assist Trophy [http://smashboards.com/threads/k-rools-kremling-kutthroats-request-the-king-in-your-smash-club-nintendo-forms-today.324259/page-516#post-18244015 confessed to fabricating the claim]; he initially intended to use the false piece of information to help himself catch fake leaks, as well as see how many people would repeat his seemingly outlandish claim.
 
In addition, leakers claimed that five new characters could be unlocked when the 3DS and Wii U versions were connected. The five implicated characters were [[Ridley]], the Chorus Men, [[Dixie Kong]], [[Mewtwo]], and {{s|zeldawiki|Impa}} from ''The Legend of Zelda''. Notably, the first four characters were previously implicated by leakers in the ESRB leak, though the list was intentionally fabricated by the ESRB leaker in order to identify copycat leaks. As a final note to readers, the leaker also claimed that stages and characters would not be unlockable in the game, with all of them being available from the start. However, there were some notable oddities in these leaks, such as the fact that Ridley has no wings on the ground but can sprout them in the air, something that never happens in the Metroid series, and it also said that Mewtwo would make "generic grunts".
 
The leak was proven false by an [https://www.smashbros.com/wiiu-3ds/us/images/howto/entry8-3.jpg an official screenshot] demonstrating [[amiibo]]. The screenshot showed the roster with characters such as {{SSB4|Mr. Game & Watch}} completely absent, still needing to be unlocked by the player; also worth noting, however, was that Masahiro Sakurai [http://www.gamnesia.com/news/sakurai-considered-having-all-fighters-available-from-the-start-in-smash-br had originally planned] for all the characters in ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'' to be available from the start. The [[Nintendo Direct]] presentation on 23 October 2014 further refuted the rumor; while an improved Stage Builder was confirmed in the presentation, the Tower of Smash and Boss Rush modes went without mention, no information was given on [[Magicant]] or [[Mute City]] being shared stages, and all other implicated characters were absent. Furthermore, Ridley was confirmed to be a stage boss on [[Pyrosphere]], and the Event Matches were confirmed to be returning for the game. While {{SSB4|Mewtwo}} was revealed as a playable character, it was revealed to be a downloadable character, not an on-disc transferable character. Additionally, only 32 new stages and 21 past stages appear in the Wii U version, six of which need to be unlocked and nine of which are obtained via DLC.


===Rayman DLC hoax===
===Rayman DLC hoax===
On February 14, 2015, multiple pictures taken of Ubisoft's Rayman supposedly in ''SSB4'' were posted onto 4chan by an anonymous user. The images were of Rayman's character select screen icon, his render, his character unlock splash art, and the main menu of ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'' with a new sub menu for a shop. Several hours later, video footage of Rayman's icon in the character select screen being highlighted was posted onto YouTube, but it was later taken down by the uploader. Mewtwo could also be seen above Rayman in the video. A similarly-updated character select screen from the 3DS version also surfaced. Many observers initially believed the hoax, since the images and the video were seemingly error-free, were of reasonably high quality, had renders not seen in any official material, and featured video footage, which was considered near-impossible to fake. This rumor also lined up with a [[#Rayman "leak"|previous rumor]] with similar information.  
On February 14, 2015, multiple pictures taken of Ubisoft's Rayman supposedly in ''Smash 4'' were posted onto 4chan. The images were of Rayman's character select screen icon, his render, his character unlock splash art, and the main menu of ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'' with a new sub menu for a shop. Several hours later, video footage of Rayman's icon in the character select screen being highlighted was posted onto YouTube, but it was later taken down by the uploader. Mewtwo could also be seen above Rayman in the video. A similarly-updated character select screen from the 3DS version also surfaced. Many observers initially believed the hoax, since the images and the video were seemingly error-free, were of reasonably high quality, had renders not seen in any official material, and featured video footage, which was considered near-impossible to fake. This rumor also lined up with a previous rumor, where Matt Ryan, a manager of communications, marketing, and alliances at Nintendo of Canada, made a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiWdJcEEC7s#t=120 comment] suggesting that Rayman was in the game.


Ultimately, the Rayman rumor was deconfirmed the next day in a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaoB7lnOiXM YouTube video showing how the images and video were faked] by the user Artsy Omni, who revealed that he did it as a promotional stunt for his new web series, ''[http://smashifiedart.com/ Smashified]''. Artsy Omni was also the artist and author of another [http://hextupleyoodot.deviantart.com/art/Klonoa-for-Smash-459604523 previous high-quality fake] of {{s|wikipedia|Klonoa}} becoming [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/69400428 a playable character], which was quickly debunked because of errors in the Japanese text. Artsy Omni would later apologize for disappointing numerous ''Smash'' players with his hoax, though work on ''Smashified'' has continued.
Ultimately, the Rayman rumor was disconfirmed the next day in a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaoB7lnOiXM YouTube video showing how the images and video were faked] by the user Artsy Omni, who revealed that he did it as a promotional stunt for his new web series, ''[http://smashifiedart.com/ Smashified]''. Artsy Omni was also the artist and author of another [http://hextupleyoodot.deviantart.com/art/Klonoa-for-Smash-459604523 previous high-quality fake] of {{s|wikipedia|Klonoa}} becoming [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/69400428 a playable character], which was quickly debunked because of errors in the Japanese text. Artsy Omni would later apologize for disappointing numerous ''Smash'' players with his hoax, though work on ''Smashified'' has continued.


Notably, the image of Rayman and Mewtwo's portraits in the 3DS version was not shown by Artsy Omni, instead being submitted by an unknown third party.
Notably, the image of Rayman and Mewtwo's portraits in the 3DS version was not shown by Artsy Omni, instead being submitted by an unknown third party.


While a DLC shop for the game was added in a future [[update]], it is only present in the 3DS version, as the Wii U version requires the use of the Nintendo eShop to purchase downloadable content; furthermore, the placement of the DLC Shop is in a completely different area than shown in the images.
While a DLC shop for the game was added in a future [[update]], it is only present in the 3DS version, as the Wii U version used the Nintendo eShop to purchase downloadable content; furthermore, the placement of the DLC Shop is in a completely different area than shown in the images.


<gallery>
<gallery>
Line 242: Line 174:
In late August 2015, Tamaki, an employee from Unseen64, reported that a "reputable source" had informed him of a forthcoming announcement of a {{s|wikipedia|Shovel Knight}} [[amiibo]], and, by extension, an appearance of the character himself in ''Smash 4'', which would be compatible with said amiibo, and retailers would be giving out download codes of said character. {{s|wikipedia|Yacht Club Games}}, the developers of ''Shovel Knight'', did indeed [http://yachtclubgames.com/2015/08/shovel-knight-amiibo/ reveal] a Shovel Knight amiibo at [[PAX Prime 2015]], but [http://www.nintendo.com/amiibo/detail/shovel-knight-amiibo-shovel-knight-series said amiibo] was announced only as having compatibility with the [[Nintendo 3DS]] and [[Wii U]] versions of ''Shovel Knight''. Shovel Knight's amiibo was also shown to have a different base and packaging from the ''Smash'' series of amiibo.
In late August 2015, Tamaki, an employee from Unseen64, reported that a "reputable source" had informed him of a forthcoming announcement of a {{s|wikipedia|Shovel Knight}} [[amiibo]], and, by extension, an appearance of the character himself in ''Smash 4'', which would be compatible with said amiibo, and retailers would be giving out download codes of said character. {{s|wikipedia|Yacht Club Games}}, the developers of ''Shovel Knight'', did indeed [http://yachtclubgames.com/2015/08/shovel-knight-amiibo/ reveal] a Shovel Knight amiibo at [[PAX Prime 2015]], but [http://www.nintendo.com/amiibo/detail/shovel-knight-amiibo-shovel-knight-series said amiibo] was announced only as having compatibility with the [[Nintendo 3DS]] and [[Wii U]] versions of ''Shovel Knight''. Shovel Knight's amiibo was also shown to have a different base and packaging from the ''Smash'' series of amiibo.


Despite these statements, Tamaki stated that Shovel Knight was still on the way according to his source, and was expected to come around the end of October or the beginning of November. The rumor was ultimately debunked following the [[Nintendo_Direct#Super_Smash_Bros._-_Final_Video_Presentation_.28December_15.2C_2015.29|final DLC announcements]] on December 15, 2015, where Shovel Knight failed to make an appearance of any kind. In 2018, the source came out and explained that he had the Shovel Knight amiibo leaked to him, wrongly “made the leap”, as there were only Smash Bros amiibo available at the time, and gave Tamaki the info.<ref>https://www.twitter.com/Toadsanime/status/978650176847056897</ref>
Despite these statements, Tamaki stated that Shovel Knight was still on the way according to his source, and was expected to come around the end of October or the beginning of November. The rumor was ultimately debunked following the [[Nintendo Direct#Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U - Final Video Presentation (December 15, 2015)|final DLC announcements]] on December 15, 2015, where Shovel Knight failed to make an appearance of any kind. In 2018, the source came out and explained that he had the Shovel Knight amiibo leaked to him, wrongly "made the leap", as there were only Smash Bros amiibo available at the time, and gave Tamaki the info.<ref>https://www.twitter.com/Toadsanime/status/978650176847056897</ref>


Eventually, [[Shovel Knight]] made it in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but as an Assist Trophy.
Eventually, [[Shovel Knight]] made it in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', but as an Assist Trophy.


===Rigged Ballot rumor===
==Rumors about ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''==
 
<!-- READ THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES BEFORE ADDING ANY RUMORS:
On July 2, 2018, dataminer Ruben found that {{SSB4|Bayonetta}} may have been chosen for DLC as early as patch 1.0.6, which was published only two weeks after the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot opened and several months before Bayonetta was announced as the winner of the ballot. Dataminers Marioking64DS and Ehm later confirmed that files for Bayonetta existed in the patch<ref>https://sourcegaming.info/2018/07/03/bayo106/</ref>. This caused a backlash in the community with many people accusing Sakurai of lying about the winner of the ballot. However, it is possible that she received a large number of votes during the first two weeks the ballot was open. It should also be noted that Sakurai and Iwata have always talked about the ballot as though it was a suggestion box, not a poll<ref>https://www.sourcegaming.info/2015/08/10/smash-ballot-more-suggestion-than-popularity/</ref>. Sakurai would later state that he referred to the ballot when deciding on newcomers for ''Ultimate'' and, as a result, added [[Ridley]], [[Simon]], [[Richter]], and [[King K. Rool]]<ref>https://sourcegaming.info/2018/08/22/more-information-about-the-smash-direct-sakurais-famitsu-column-vol-561/</ref><ref>https://twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1087124989239734272</ref>.
1. This article exists to document NOTABLE rumors. As such, any rumors added to this page must have a substantial degree of notability for them to stay.
 
2. Check to see whether or not the rumor is on the page in the first place.
==Rumors about [[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate|''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'']]==
3. Notability of rumors should involve either having significant speculation and/or spread in the community (such as large threads on SmashBoards or coverage by notable gaming-related news sites), or have a notable characteristic that differentiates them from other rumors. An example of the former would be the Grinch Leak from Ultimate (which not only caused widespread debate throughout SmashBoards and social media sites about its legitimacy up to the release of Ultimate, but was also covered by mainstream gaming sites), while an example of the latter would be the Lucina rumor for Smash 4 (as it was the first faked leak that utilize mods, which would become a common trend for faking leaks of varying effort).
===''Super Smash Bros. 4'' port===
4. If a rumor is confirmed to be a factual, it belongs on the List of leaks article (https://www.ssbwiki.com/List_of_leaks), not here.
On 28 January 2016, Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO for Japan-based consultant firm [http://en.kantan-games.co.jp/ Kantan Games, Inc.] and lead writer for [http://www.serkantoto.com/ a blog on the Japanese mobile game industry], [https://twitter.com/serkantoto/status/692755598497046528 tweeted] that Bandai Namco had been working on several titles for Nintendo's then-unofficially announced console, the Switch, codenamed NX at the time. One of these titles was reportedly intended to be ''Super Smash Bros.'' game as a launch title. A few minutes later, he [https://twitter.com/serkantoto/status/692758073123823617 added] that his source was unclear on whether or not it would be a completely new game in the series or simply a port of ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', though he still defended the veracity of the source.  
5. If a rumor is removed and you believe it to be notable, outline on the talk page of this article for why you think it is notable. DO NOT IMMEDIATELY EDIT THE RUMOR IN QUESTION BACK INTO THE ARTICLE.
 
6. The examples on this page are listed in roughly chronological order. If possible, attempt to continue this trend.-->
About eleven months later, a [https://twitter.com/Doctor_Cupcakes/status/806216098521763840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw tweet] was posted on December 6th by Liam Robertson of [https://www.unseen64.net/ Unseen64] and "Did You Know Gaming?". He claimed new characters would appear in the next entry, though the number would be a small amount, with a separate source from "Source Gaming" reporting there are at least 2 new characters in development <ref>[http://sourcegaming.info/2016/12/07/switch-is-getting-2-smash-bros-games-rumour/ "Switch is Getting 2 Smash Bros. Games – Rumour!" - Source Gaming]</ref>. "Source Gaming" later followed up on the rumor, claiming that the game is a "director's cut"  of ''Super Smash Bros. 4''; that is, the game contains content from both versions (e.g., a combinations of stages, game modes, etc.), which includes the game's DLC announced back in April of 2016. The rumor quickly spread after this annoucement, with multiple gaming sites, including {{s|wikipedia|IGN}}, reporting on it.
 
In February 2018, game developer and industry insider Emily Rogers also [https://www.resetera.com/threads/it-kind-of-feels-like-nintendo-is-on-cruise-control-a-bit-with-the-switch-now.24216/page-16#post-4753218 claimed] that ''Super Smash Bros.'' was coming to the Nintendo Switch in some capacity, and that it would have brand new content, as well as some reworked content from the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS versions. However, it is unclear to her if the game will be marketed as a "director's cut" of sorts or a full sequel. Later in March, a Nintendo Direct showed that there is a new game for the Switch with the [[Inkling]]s looking at the ''Smash'' roster and the ''Smash'' symbol. The announcement caused the rumors of the title being a port to lose credibility, as it showed Link in his design from ''The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild''. In addition to that, the trailer shown did not show gameplay for the game and did not show the original release date in its copyright, which would be unusual for a port’s announcement trailer, and the game's title was listed as a tentative title on the game’s website. Furthermore, on March 22, an [[Tournament:Super Smash Bros. Invitational 2018|invitational tournament]] for the game was announced alongside the Splatoon 2 World Championship, and even later it got an original title and tons of new features, making the rumor false.
 
===Vergeben leaks===
On May 16th, 2018, a user known as [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-for-nintendo-switch/76614511 Vergeben] posted a thread on GameFAQs, claiming he had a reliable source with information on the character roster of the then teased but still unrevealed [[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]. Specifically, he said that [[Ridley]] and [[Simon Belmont]] would be newcomers and that the entire roster from ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'' would return with no cuts, with the [[Ice Climbers]] and [[Snake]] also returning after being cut from SSB4. Vergeben also claimed that the popular Microsoft-owned indie game ''Minecraft'' would be represented in some form.
 
On June 12, 2018, The lack of cuts from SSB4's roster, the return of Snake and the Ice Climbers, and the addition of Ridley were all confirmed during Nintendo’s E3 2018 Direct. This left Simon Belmont and ''Minecraft'' representation Vergeben's only unconfirmed claims. In response to a GameFAQs post asking about Simon, Vergeben [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76694154/903083982 replied] “Just be patient. There’s still things to be revealed before release”, suggesting that Simon would be revealed at a later date. He [https://www.reddit.com/r/Kappa/comments/8k0li1/comment/e0pemqo later claimed on Reddit] that there were at least “half a dozen newcomers” left to be revealed, but he didn’t know who any of them were aside from Simon.
 
On July 28, 2018, Vergeben made a post on GameFAQs titled [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76848606?utm_source=reddit.com Disregard ALL people claiming leaks that don't have these two characters], which restated his earlier claim that Simon would appear and also added [[Isabelle]] to his list of claims.
 
On August 3, 2018, Vergeben [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76866145/906230784 posted] on a GameFAQs thread where he claimed that a Pokémon from Generation VII would appear as a playable fighter, and that it would not be {{pkmn|Decidueye}}, {{pkmn|Lycanroc}}, or [[Mimikyu]]<ref>[https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76869597/906250185 If Vergetbean is right, who's it going to be? - GameFAQs]</ref>.
 
On August 8, 2018, Simon Belmont was officially revealed as a newcomer in that day's ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' Direct, confirming Vergeben's earlier claims that he would appear. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awl4L0yVdkg] Also in this Direct, [[Mimikyu]] was revealed to appear as a Poké Ball summon, corroborating his claim that Mimikyu will not be playable.
 
On August 18, 2018, Vergeben made a [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76915219?page=1#13 post] on a thread stating that [[Ken]] from Street Fighter would appear in the game<ref>https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76928990?page=32#325</ref> as an Echo Fighter of {{SSBU|Ryu}}<ref>https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76958482?page=1#15</ref>.  
 
On August 22, 2018, Vergeben made another [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76928398?page=9#100 post] on a thread, this time stating that a new third-party fighter owned by Square Enix would appear in the game. This lead some to believe that Vergeben was simply taking info from the NeoGAF Leak, but the next day he [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76929458#4 claimed] in a thread that he did not know anything about the NeoGAF leak. He also states that the NeoGAF leak contradicts his own information, since it claims there will be no new ''Pokémon'' rep.
In the time since his original claim of a Square Enix newcomer, Vergeben has stated that he has actually heard seven different names for the newcomer, as Square Enix is intentionally sending out multiple names to try to prevent the real one from being leaked.


On September 13, 2018, {{SSBU|Isabelle}} was revealed as a newcomer at the end of that day's Nintendo Direct, confirming Vergeben's claim that she would appear as a playable character.
===Skull Kid/Dixie Kong/Isaac rumors===
 
Loz18, [[List of leaks#Loz18|who had correctly predicted several pieces of content in the E3 2018 and August 2018 Nintendo Directs]] (with the content that was not announced in August appearing in the game anyways), has made several posts (such as [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76883130 here]) stating that [[Skull Kid]] is probably playable. A few days after the Direct, he closed his GameFAQs account, but not before [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76904388 stating on Twitter] that [[Dixie Kong]] has a high chance of being playable, and [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76911077 possibly] [[Isaac]] (these tweets have since been deleted), though he would retract his statements on Isaac on a [https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gfaqssb/images/2/22/Loz18leakssmashinside.png Discord server]. However, none of his new predictions came true, aside from his final statement on Isaac.
On September 16, 2018, Vergeben made a new [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/77008096 thread] claiming that his reliable sources have finally confirmed to him that Incineroar is the Generation VII Pokémon that will appear as a newcomer. He also addresses the popular "Box Theory", which states that there will only be two more fighters in the base game as the box art for the Special Edition of the game only has room for two more fighters. He states that he knows for certain that Incineroar and Ken will be in the game, and that the source for the Square Enix newcomer had never been wrong in the past. He also claims the game will have post-launch content, which could possibly include the Square Enix newcomer if the Box Theory turns out to be true.
 
On October 31, 2018, Vergeben made a [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/77149243?jumpto=224#224 surprising claim] suggesting that Isaac, in contrast to what the [[#Banner leak|banner leak]] was suggesting, was an Assist Trophy instead of being playable.
 
On November 1, 2018, the final Nintendo Direct for Ultimate revealed {{SSBU|Ken}} and {{SSBU|Incineroar}} as the last fighters to be announced for the base game, as well as revealing Isaac to be an Assist Trophy, confirming Vergeben's earlier claims about them. It was also announced in this direct that there would be additional fighters as paid DLC, which could possibly include the Square Enix newcomer and the ''Minecraft'' content.
 
On November 2, 2018, Vergeben made a [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/77160319?jumpto=4#4 post] reiterating that he was confident one of the 5 post-launch DLC characters will be a Square Enix rep, and that it would be the first of the DLC characters to launch. He also reiterated that ''Minecraft'' content will be coming in some form. Additionally, he stated that Senjougahara__Hitagi, another leaker he considers reliable, has heard that the ''Minecraft'' content will include Steve as a playable character. He also shared that Hitagi's sources claim that there have been talks of a ''{{s|wikipedia|Granblue Fantasy}}'' newcomer as DLC, most likely [https://gbf.wiki/Katalina Katalina]. Hitagi initially verified the Steve and Katalina claims, but she later [https://www.reddit.com/user/Senjougahara__Hitagi/comments/9x27hs/just_a_quick_update_not_answering_questions/ retracted the Katalina claim], saying that the "deal" was not related to Smash Bros. On November 21, Hitagi again stated that Steve is definitely coming, but also announced that she has given up trying to find out about the rest of the characters, as the ones she heard about were starting to look like red herrings, including any Square Enix fighters, thus bringing Vergeben's claim into doubt, as well.<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/u_Senjougahara__Hitagi/comments/9yzt7h/comment/ea5urmk</ref>
 
On November 24, 2018, another insider by the name of Ryce [https://www.resetera.com/posts/15315308/ stated] that Vergeben was likely misled about Steve being a DLC character, since this claim came out long before the DLC choices were set in stone. Vergeben made a [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/77233375?jumpto=97#97 post] agreeing with Ryce and stating that he still heard that ''Minecraft'' was still being represented with a boss, despite [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/77233375/912971572 acknowledging] the fact that nobody had yet found any references to ''Minecraft'' in the datamine of the full game. It should be noted that this does not dismiss Hitagi's claim of Steve being DLC.
 
On December 6, 2018, {{SSBU|Joker}} was revealed to be the first DLC fighter at The Game Awards 2018. This directly contradicted Vergeben's claim that the first DLC character to be revealed would be a Square Enix character. This is notably the first of Vergeben's claims that has been proven wrong. Vergeben later justified this discrepancy by claiming that Joker was moved up on the schedule last-minute.{{fact}}
 
On December 30th, 2018, Vergeben made a [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/77344587?jumpto=48#48 post] following up that the Square Enix newcomer is most likely a ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' character, namely [https://dragon-quest.org/wiki/Erdrick Erdrick], [https://dragon-quest.org/wiki/Hero_(Dragon_Quest_XI) Luminary] or [https://dragon-quest.org/wiki/Slime Slime].
 
This correlates with a [[#5channel_Dragon_Quest_leak|separate alleged leak]] originating from [https://krsw.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/ghard/1544370354/137 5channel], claiming that Erdrick was the Square Enix rep, and would feature the Luminary as an alternate costume, while the Slime would appear on a ''Dragon Quest'' stage.
 
On June 6th, 2019, Vergeben [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/77761932/922851981 claimed that Banjo & Kazooie had a 99% chance of being part of the] [[Fighters Pass]]. He also reaffirmed his statement that Minecraft would be represented through DLC, though he also stated that he was unsure if Steve would be playable.
 
At present, the following are the claims made by Vergeben that have been confirmed:
*{{SSBU|Ridley}}, {{SSBU|Simon}}, {{SSBU|Isabelle}}, {{SSBU|Incineroar}}, and {{SSBU|Ken}} would appear as newcomers, the latter as an [[Echo Fighter]] of {{SSBU|Ryu}}.
*All characters from ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'' would return, as well as {{SSBU|Snake}} and the {{SSBU|Ice Climbers}}.
*Over half a dozen newcomers would be included (specifically eleven in the base game).
*Decidueye, Lycanroc, [[Mimikyu]], and [[Isaac]] would not be playable, the latter instead returning as an [[Assist Trophy]].
*Banjo & Kazooie and the Hero would be part of the Fighters Pass.
 
At present, the following are the claims made by Vergeben that have not yet been confirmed:
*A boss from ''Minecraft'' will appear as DLC.
 
At present, the following are the claims made by Vergeben that have been proven wrong:
*The first character in the Fighters Pass will be a Square Enix character.
 
<!--Vergeben is not to be moved to the leaks page, as not everything has been confirmed.-->
 
===Codenames "leak"===
The Codenames "leak" refers to a popular leak stemming from 4chan’s /v/ board over eleven new characters rumored to be in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', which gained an unusual amount of notability on other websites, mainly due to the post’s use of codenames when referring to the characters.
 
On July 1st, 2018, a user on 4chan posted [https://boards.fireden.net/v/thread/422708115/ a thread] claiming to know what characters would be in the new ''Smash Bros.'' game, and when they would be revealed. The user used codenames instead of the characters actual name in their post.
 
According to the post:
 
*In July, the characters “King” and “Ponytail” would be revealed in a mini Nintendo Direct.
*In August, the character “Old Man” would be revealed at EVO 2018.
*In September, the character “Archer” would be revealed in a Nintendo Direct of some kind.
*In October, the Characters “Warrior” and “Secretary” would be revealed in a Nintendo Direct centered around ''Ultimate''.
*In November, the character “Mech” would be revealed in a surprise character announcement.
*The Characters “Rhythm”, “Folklore”, “Doll”, and “Prime Ribs” wouldn't get reveal trailers until post-release.
 
The post was immediately subject to debate, due to its cryptic nature. Users on the original thread shared ideas on who the various characters could be until it was deleted.
 
After the thread was closed, it was covered by many articles on Inverse, with the first one being posted on [https://www.inverse.com/article/46760-4chan-leak-reveals-11-new-super-smash-bros-ultimate-characters July 6th, 2018]. This caused it to be picked up by users of [https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/8wsovl/leaked_smash_ultimate_roster_11_newcomers/ Reddit] and various ''Smash Bros.'' discussion boards, inspiring credulity due to the legitimacy of the previous [[Leak#E3 2018 4chan leak|the 4chan E3 2018 leak]]. Due to a large volume of discussion on various forums, it was further spread to news websites such as [https://kotaku.com/huge-potential-leak-may-reveal-full-smash-bros-roster-1626455809 Kotaku].
 
The popularity of the rumor peaked when it started trending on YouTube, with many users posting discussion videos which would gain tens of thousands of views in a matter of days. The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OacbmuaRcBE most popular video] was posted by [https://www.youtube.com/user/Aaronitmar Aaronitmar], which accumulated nearly 500,000 views in nine days.
 
Much of the discussion on this rumor was on what characters represented which codename. Some of the most popular ideas included:
*King: [[King K. Rool]]
*Ponytail: {{s|mariowiki|Dixie Kong}} or {{s|wikipedia|Shantae}}.
*Old Man: [[Heihachi Mishima]] from ''{{uvn|Tekken}}''.
*Archer: {{pkmn|Decidueye}}, or another [[Mii Fighter]] class.
*Secretary: [[Isabelle]] from the ''{{uv|Animal Crossing}}'' series.
*Warrior: [[Simon Belmont]] from ''{{uv|Castlevania}}'', or a new character from ''{{uv|Fire Emblem}}'' or ''{{uv|The Legend of Zelda}}''.
*Mech: [[wikipedia:Chibi-Robo!|Chibi-Robo]] or Elma from ''[[Xenoblade (universe)|Xenoblade Chronicles X]]''.
*Rhythm: A character from ''{{uv|Rhythm Heaven}}''.
*Folklore: Amaterasu from ''{{s|wikipedia|Ōkami}}'' or a character from ''{{s|wikipedia|Touhou Project}}''.
*Doll: [[Geno]].
*Prime Ribs: [[Dark Samus]] or {{s|wikibound|Ninten}} from ''[[wikibound:Mother (video game)|EarthBound Beginnings]]''.
 
However, a few days later, an anonymous Twitter user reportedly claimed that the rumor, while not entirely inaccurate, contained some misinformation.<ref>[https://www.twingalaxies.com/feed_details.php/2168/rumor-nintendo-may-reveal-k-rool-many-more-for-super-smash-bros-ultimate/ New Super Smash Bros Ultimate Leak May Reveal K. Rool & More Characters - Twin Galaxies]</ref> According to this user, Ponytail would not be revealed until after launch and will be available via a free update, while Doll would instead be announced alongside King at a "''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' event happening in just a few days" (speculated to be the Shonen Jump Victory Festival or San Diego ComicCon, both of which passed without any character announcements) along with a character not implicated in the original rumor codenamed "Soul". Warrior, Folklore, and another new character codenamed "Fake" were promised to be revealed in a Nintendo Direct in September. The user then claimed that they were unaware of the other characters' reveal dates, indicating that the ones listed above may be inaccurate. Similarly to the other codenames, there was much discussion on who Soul and Fake may be, with some of the leading theories being Sans or another character from ''{{s|wikipedia|Undertale}}'' (a game where the player's "SOUL" is a major part of the plot), [[Shadow the Hedgehog]] (after numerous scenes in ''{{s|wikipedia|Sonic Adventure 2}}'' where Sonic calls him "Faker" and "Fake Hedgehog"), {{pkmn|Mimikyu}} (a Pokémon known for disguising itself), or characters from the plethora of games with "soul" in their title, including ''{{s|wikipedia|Dark Souls}}'' or ''{{s|wikipedia|Soulcalibur}}'' (such as [https://darksouls.wikia.com/wiki/Solaire_of_Astora Solaire] from the former).
 
Most of the information provided in these leaks has proven false, and while some characters that were supposedly in the leak have been confirmed, none were confirmed in the indicated month.
 
===Loz18 leaks===
After posting [[Leak#Loz18 E3 2018 Leak|an accurate leak]] related to ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' information shared at [[E3 2018]], GameFAQs user Loz18 made another [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76579834/903186091 thread] about a Nintendo Direct in August stating:
 
*The [[Nintendo Direct]] will come around August.
*Info will be shown from the title screen to the menu options.
*Three modes will be shown besides [[All-Star Mode]].
*[[Tournament mode]] is returning.
*The new mode will be revealed and it will be the primary way to unlock characters.
 
About a week before the August Direct, he made [https://imgur.com/a/odPdfMB some more posts] mentioning a cutscene with a heroes vs. villains theme, but not part of a story mode.
 
Despite the leaker's credibility, some of the information regarding the Direct was wrong. While several menu screens, three new modes, Tournament Mode, and the heroes vs. villain cutscene (at the start of [[SSBU|King K. Rool]]'s reveal trailer) were indeed revealed, the title screen, All-Star Mode, and the mode to unlock characters were nowhere to be found.
 
Loz18 has made several posts (such as [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76883130 here]) stating that [[Skull Kid]] is probably playable. A few days after the Direct, he closed his GameFAQs account, but not before [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76904388 stating on Twitter] that [[Dixie Kong]] has a high chance of being playable, and [https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/234547-super-smash-bros-ultimate/76911077 possibly] [[Isaac]] (these tweets have since been deleted), though he would retract his statements on Isaac on a [https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gfaqssb/images/2/22/Loz18leakssmashinside.png Discord server]. However, none of his new predictions came true, aside from his final statement on Isaac.
 
===NeoGAF leak===
On July 3rd, 2018, NeoGAF user WhisslBlank made a [https://web.archive.org/web/20180705112835/https://www.neogaf.com/threads/super-smash-bros-ultimate-website-updated-character-videos-and-more.1463068/ post] in a thread. He stated the following:
 
*King K. Rool, Simon Belmont, and [[Isaac]] are newcomers.
*Chrom as an Echo fighter to Roy.
*Soren from ''{{s|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance}}'' as a Echo fighter to [[Robin]].
*[[Ken]] from {{uv|Street Fighter}} as a Echo fighter to [[Ryu]] which the difference between him and Ryu is that Ken has flame effects.
*An unknown [[Square Enix]] or [[Final Fantasy]] fighter that serves as a "addition" with [[Cloud]].
*No newcomers from ''The Legend of Zelda''.
*No newcomers from ''Pokémon''.
*There are 12 more newcomers in all: 7 original fighters and 5 Echo fighters.
 
Three of the alleged newcomers ({{SSBU|King K. Rool}}, {{SSBU|Simon}}, and {{SSBU|Chrom}}) were all revealed in the Nintendo August Direct.
 
Another [https://www.neogaf.com/threads/super-smash-bros-ultimate-website-updated-character-videos-and-more.1463068/post-253382112 post] was later made by a newly created account of the same name with a unknown relationship with the one above, the 1st post states:
 
*A clarification that the total number of newcomers was the "leaker's" own interpretation based on what his/her source said.
*Isabelle, Isaac, Ken, and Soren are still on their way.
*A {{uv|Monster Hunter}} character as a playable fighter.
*Terra from ''{{s|wikipedia|Final Fantasy VI}}'' as a playable fighter.
*A [[Bandai Namco]] character as a playable fighter.
*[[Sablé Prince]] from {{uv|Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru}} as a playable fighter.
*Felix from ''Golden Sun'' as a echo fighter for Isaac, Isaac and Felix will both be revealed together in a trailer like Simon's and [[Richter]]'s [[List of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character trailers#Simon and Richter|trailer]].
*[[Shadow]] as a Echo fighter to [[Sonic]].
*{{s|wikirby|Galacta Knight}} as a echo fighter for [[Meta Knight]].
 
The [https://www.neogaf.com/threads/super-smash-bros-ultimate-website-updated-character-videos-and-more.1463068/#post-253382445 2nd post] stated that Soren's effects are different from Robin's effects and Soren has a "adjusted" dagger instead of Robin's [[Bronze Sword]].
 
The [https://www.neogaf.com/threads/super-smash-bros-ultimate-website-updated-character-videos-and-more.1463068/page-2#post-253384950 3rd post] stated that he has more sources and he will post them and 3 days later, the [https://www.neogaf.com/threads/super-smash-bros-ultimate-website-updated-character-videos-and-more.1463068/post-253388869 last post] states:
*The Bandai Namco character is revealed to be [[Lloyd]] from ''[[Tales]]''.
*[[Skull Kid]] is in the game as a playable fighter.
*A new mode will be a mixture between ''Brawl''{{'}}s [[Subspace Emissary]] and ''Melee''{{'}}s [[Adventure Mode]].
*Boss Battle Mode is in the game.
*The ability to switch character voices between Japanese and English.
*A new "mastermind" like [[Tabuu]] from ''Brawl''.
*The motto "Everyone's here" refers to something not just all fighters returning.
 
The last post also gave out hints, which are:
#"The princess will be happy to see this person again." which relates to Skull Kid as stated by the user.
#"A young man's unstoppable destiny. One will live and one will die."
#"Beloved little guy, with blue as his favorite color."
#"Dynamic Duo."
 
A third account of the same name has [https://www.neogaf.com/threads/super-smash-bros-ultimate-website-updated-character-videos-and-more.1463068/page-2#post-253390240 posted] hints stating:
 
#Does not perform well in Autumn.
#This one might be dead.
#After which, this one is without a hat.
#Better bring some bacon as well.
 
Later, the second account made a [https://www.neogaf.com/threads/super-smash-bros-ultimate-website-updated-character-videos-and-more.1463068/page-2#post-253391278 post] denying that the third account was his, and also posted screenshots seemingly proving that he owned the first account, although the screenshots could be fake. Considering the conflicting information regarding ''The Legend of Zelda'' fighters, the presence of a {{s|wikirby|Galacta Knight}}-inspired costume for [[Meta Knight]] in ''Ultimate'', and the three confirmed newcomers already being previously popular guesses, this leak is likely false.
 
The leak was fully proven false in multiple ways in the 1.11.18 Smash Bros. Direct. The final newcomers for the base game were revealed to be {{SSBU|Ken}} and {{SSBU|Incineroar}}, and the 5 post-launch DLC characters were stated to be completely new characters, instead of Echo Fighters. Additionally, several of the rumored playable characters were revealed as Assist Trophies instead, namely [[Isaac]], [[Sablé Prince]], [[Skull Kid]], and [[Shadow]].
 
===amiibo Unlock rumor===
On Best Buy of Canada's website, the [https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/amiibo-super-smash-bros-ridley/12917606.aspx? Ridley] [[amiibo]] has the following text in its description: "Simply tap the amiibo accessory to the NFC touchpoint on your game system to unlock this draconic Space Pirate." [https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/amiibo-super-smash-bros-wolf/12917604.aspx? Wolf's] has the same, but without the "draconic" part, and [https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/amiibo-super-smash-bros-inkling-girl/12917605.aspx? Inkling's] has "trouble-making resident of the city of Inkopolis" in place of "draconic Space Pirate". All of these imply the amiibo can be tapped to instantly [[Unlockable character|unlock]] the character.
 
It should be noted that the respective descriptions now all say "Simply tap the amiibo accessory on the NFC touchpoint on your compatible system or accessory and enjoy fun in-game extras in compatible games." except for the Inkling page, where it says "Simply tap the amiibo accessory to the NFC touchpoint" instead.
 
This was proven false upon the release of ''Ultimate'', as tapping an amiibo only adds a Figure Player, not the actual fighter.


===Dante rumor===
===Dante rumor===
Shortly after the reveal of ''Devil May Cry 5'' at E3 2018, an anonymous 4chan user posted [https://boards.fireden.net/v/thread/424869809/#q424872463 a thread] claiming to have information related to the game and several other projects related to the franchise. Namely, that Dante, the protagonist of the series, would be a playable character in ''Ultimate.''  Throughout the year, several of the poster's claims would be verified, such as several story details, the existence of a training mode and the way that the character Nero purchases upgrades. Perhaps adding to the leak's credibility, a Netflix series based on the franchise was announced later that year, just as the poster had claimed. Users would go on to discover that [https://twitter.com/pg_kamiya/status/700571957658423297?lang=en a poll run by Hideki Kamiya], the original creator of the ''Devil May Cry'' and [[Bayonetta]] franchises, asked fans which version of Dante they'd prefer to see collaborate with Bayonetta. Users pointed out that the date of the poll, early 2016, aligns with the period of time which Sakurai had stated early development on ''Ultimate'' had begun, and that the version of Dante that won the poll was the same version that the 4chan poster had claimed would be in the game. In early August, Matt Walker, the producer of Devil May Cry 5, [https://imgur.com/LVArqNC posted a suspicious tweet] that seemed to allude to something related to the Nintendo Direct that would air during that week. Later in the year, [https://www.reddit.com/r/DevilMayCry/comments/9i7inm/hideaki_itsuno_hideki_kamiya_together_at_tgs_2018/ Kamiya would meet up with Hideaki Itsuno, the current director of the Devil May Cry series] at TGS 2018, adding fuel to the rumors. Eventually, [https://i.redd.it/w70jqikzqsh11.png the rumor] had circulated enough that Walker [https://twitter.com/gypsyOtoko/status/1032867906839879680 took to Twitter to debunk Dante's presence in Smash]. As both ''Ultimate'' and ''Devil May Cry 5'' released with Dante absent from the former and the latter being inconsistent with much of the original 4chan post, it's very likely that the original poster simply made several very lucky guesses that were bolstered by a series of coincidences.  Additionally, [https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/02/08/devil-may-cry-director-says-if-smash-bros-fans-want-dante-ask-capcom-for-his-games-on Itsuno told the press that he'd prefer to see the ''Devil May Cry'' series debut on Nintendo consoles before considering Dante as a playable fighter in Smash.]
Shortly after the reveal of ''Devil May Cry 5'' at E3 2018, a 4chan user posted [https://boards.fireden.net/v/thread/424869809/#q424872463 a thread] claiming to have information related to the game and several other projects related to the franchise. Namely, that Dante, the protagonist of the series, would be a playable character in ''Ultimate.''  Throughout the year, several of the poster's claims would be verified, such as several story details, the existence of a training mode and the way that the character Nero purchases upgrades. Perhaps adding to the leak's credibility, a Netflix series based on the franchise was announced later that year, just as the poster had claimed. Users would go on to discover that [https://twitter.com/pg_kamiya/status/700571957658423297 a poll run by Hideki Kamiya], the original creator of the ''Devil May Cry'' and {{uv|Bayonetta}} franchises, asked fans which version of Dante they'd prefer to see collaborate with Bayonetta. Users pointed out that the date of the poll, early 2016, aligns with the period of time which Sakurai had stated early development on ''Ultimate'' had begun, and that the version of Dante that won the poll was the same version that the 4chan poster had claimed would be in the game. In early August, Matt Walker, the producer of Devil May Cry 5, [https://imgur.com/LVArqNC posted a suspicious tweet] that seemed to allude to something related to the Nintendo Direct that would air during that week. Later in the year, [https://www.reddit.com/r/DevilMayCry/comments/9i7inm/hideaki_itsuno_hideki_kamiya_together_at_tgs_2018/ Kamiya would meet up with Hideaki Itsuno, the current director of the Devil May Cry series] at TGS 2018, adding fuel to the rumors. Eventually, [https://i.redd.it/w70jqikzqsh11.png the rumor] had circulated enough that Walker [https://twitter.com/gypsyOtoko/status/1032867906839879680 took to Twitter to debunk Dante's presence in Smash].


===4chan Render hoax===
As both ''Ultimate'' and ''Devil May Cry 5'' released, with Dante absent from the former and the latter being inconsistent with much of the original 4chan post, it's very likely that the original poster simply made several very lucky guesses that were bolstered by a series of coincidences.
[[File:SSBURenderLeak.jpg|150px|thumb|A popular edit of the original image spread through Twitter.]]
Additionally, [https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/02/08/devil-may-cry-director-says-if-smash-bros-fans-want-dante-ask-capcom-for-his-games-on Itsuno told the press that he'd prefer to see the ''Devil May Cry'' series debut on Nintendo consoles before considering Dante as a playable fighter in Smash.] On May 6th, 2019 a port of the original ''Devil May Cry'' was [https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/6/18534531/devil-may-cry-nintendo-switch-release-date announced] to be coming to Nintendo Switch, leading to further speculation following the comments made by Hideaki Itsuno.
On August 30th, 2018, an anonymous user on [https://boards.fireden.net/v/thread/429622692 4chan] posted photos of what appeared to be the faces of 7 characters not yet announced for the game. The reported list of characters identified on the site includes:
*Shadow from the ''Sonic'' series
*Isaac from ''Golden Sun''
*Skull Kid from the ''Zelda'' series
*Ken from the ''Street Fighter'' series
*Chorus Kids from ''Rhythm Heaven''
*Isabelle from ''Animal Crossing''
*Agnès from Square Enix's ''Bravely Default'' series
*A question mark, similarly to the ESRB leak


About an hour later, another image was posted, a VS screen showing Wario and the aforementioned Shadow, Chorus Kids and Agnès. A picture of Isaac on the character select screen was posted as well. Both of these would show the new renders in higher detail.
On June 28, 2021, Dante was announced as a Mii Swordfighter costume, which was released alongside Challenger Pack 10 the following day.


The origin of the renders was unclear, though their authenticity as official renders was doubted, given some inconsistencies both between each other and with Ultimate's artstyle, such as Skull Kid resembling his {{forwiiu}} model. Other details were pointed out, such as the VS screen misspelling Agnès' name (naming her Agnés) and the emblem for ''Rhythm Heaven'' being a "RH", alluding to the series' American name (The series has a different name in Japan, Europe and Korea).
==="The Grinch leak"===
 
On September 1st, 2018, the leaker revealed himself over Twitter and confirmed the leak was fake, apologizing for anyone angered over the fake leaks that circulated, while also revealing the renders in full.<ref>https://twitter.com/LepyPepy/status/1036067694389485568</ref>
 
Before the leak was debunked by the creator, many images were created under the guise of being by the original poster. The most popular of these fakes would be the image primarily shared throughout Twitter, in which the question mark was swapped with a fake render of Lloyd Irving from ''Tales of Symphonia''. This edit was mentioned by the creator of the original fake renders on Twitter following the confession, noting that it was not created by them.<ref>https://twitter.com/LepyPepy/status/1036087194010742784</ref>
 
===No Codec Conversations===
On September 8th, 2018 in Fan Expo Boston 2018, a fan asked David Hayter about ''Ultimate''<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFSVVlFSbFw#t=1389</ref>, and Hayter replied that more [[Codec Conversations]] haven't been recorded yet. This lead some fans to believe that the Codec Conversations would not be in the game at all. Some players of the demo have cited the removal of the [[Star Fox Smash Taunt]] in [[Lylat Cruise]], but one possible explanation for that is it was disabled for the demo. Others have stated that there is evidence of new recordings for [[Palutena's Guidance]], as {{SSBU|Pit}}'s [[Star KO]] voice clip was completely new. Some fans point out that Hayter, as an actor, could be under contract and have a non-disclosure agreement, and not be allowed to discuss content about upcoming games he is in; however, Hayter himself brought up the topic of Codec Conversations without being asked specifically about it, after openly acknowledging that he probably was not supposed to say anything, which makes it unlikely that he was trying to obfuscate the truth. Hayter also expressed dismay on not being able to record new lines for ''Ultimate'' codecs.
 
It was later revealed from early copies of ''Ultimate'' that the Codec Conversations from ''Brawl'' return, but that there are no unique Codec Conversations for characters (re-)introduced in ''Smash 4'' or ''Ultimate''. This is in line with Hayter's previous statements that he had not recorded any new voice lines for the game.
 
===Sora rumor===
On September 20, 2018, to a tweet asking if ''{{s|wikipedia|Kingdom Hearts}}'' protagonist Sora would be playable in ''Ultimate'', series co-creator Shinji Hashimoto responded with "Yes!". <ref>https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vdXS0OnVCwkJ:https://twitter.com/shinjihashimot3/status/1042898567159996416+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us</ref>
It should be noted, however, that while ''Kingdom Hearts'' is developed by Square Enix, the series itself, including the characters, are owned by Disney. The November 1st Nintendo Direct revealed the full base roster, of which Sora is not a part of.
 
===Japanese Fighter Playlist leak===
[[File:SSBUJapanesePlaylistUpdate.png|150px|thumb|The date which the Japanese playlist was updated. The image is dated October 2nd, 2018.]]
On September 30th, 2018, the Japanese playlist of fighter exhibition video trailers was updated once, then updated again later that day, suggesting that one or more videos exhibiting possible new fighters were added to the playlist and then later removed. Similar events had happened in the past: the playlist was updated on July 29th, 2018 (prior to the ''Ultimate''-centered Direct) and again on August 27th, 2018 (prior to the Nintendo Direct that was planned for September 6th and later delayed to September 13th due to an earthquake in Hokkaido, Japan). Seeing as both the ''Ultimate''-centered direct and the September 13th direct were announced 9 days after the playlist was updated, the updates on the 30th suggested that another direct was to be announced on October 9th, 2018. However, nothing was announced that day.
 
===Banner hoax/Grinch Leak===
[[File:GrinchLeak.png|150px|thumb|The images of the alleged finalized banner.]]
[[File:GrinchLeak.png|150px|thumb|The images of the alleged finalized banner.]]
On October 24th, 2018, an image quickly circulated around the internet of the apparent final version of ''Ultimate''{{'}}s character banner; in it, [[Isaac]], [[Banjo & Kazooie]], [[Shadow the Hedgehog]], [[Ken Masters]], the Chorus Kids from {{uv|Rhythm Heaven}}, [[Geno]], and the [[Mach Rider]] can be seen. Images of the banner were apparently posted from an unknown artist's {{s|wikipedia|Snapchat}}, and quickly spread across the internet, before getting deleted by the original poster. It seems that the post was ''intended'' to be a leak, as a caption in the image reads "nique ninteno [''sic''] mdrrr", which translates from French as "fuck <!--Do not asterisk this out. SmashWiki is not censored.--> ninteno [''sic''] lol" ("mdr" in French is short for "mort de rire", or "dying of laughter", an equivalent to the English "laughing out loud" or "lol"). The validity of the pictures of the banner was difficult to disprove, as, much like the [[ESRB leak]], renders of the new characters have not been found elsewhere on the internet.  
On October 24th, 2018, an image quickly circulated around the internet of the apparent final version of ''Ultimate''{{'}}s character banner; in it, [[Isaac]], [[Banjo]] & [[Kazooie]], [[Shadow the Hedgehog]], [[Ken Masters]], the Chorus Kids from {{uv|Rhythm Heaven}}, [[Geno]], and the [[Mach Rider]] can be seen. Images of the banner were apparently posted from an unknown artist's {{s|wikipedia|Snapchat}}, and quickly spread across the internet, before getting deleted by the original poster. It seems that the post was ''intended'' to be a leak, as a caption in the image reads "nique ninteno{{sic}} mdrrr", which translates from French as "fuck <!--Do not asterisk this out. SmashWiki is not censored.--> ninteno{{sic}} lolll" ("mdr" in French is short for "mort de rire", or "dying of laughter", an equivalent to the English "laughing out loud" or "lol"). The validity of the pictures of the banner was difficult to disprove, as, much like the [[ESRB leak]], renders of the new characters could not be found elsewhere on the internet.


The leak has also been dubbed the "'''Grinch leak'''", as a thought-to-be previously unseen render of the {{s|wikipedia|Grinch}} can be seen in the bottom right corner in one of the pictures, and another render of the Grinch with his dog, Max, can be seen at the top of another picture. The particular renders are promotional{{fact}} material for the then-upcoming 2018 film ''{{iw|wikipedia|The Grinch|film}}'', which supported the leak's validity, as few believed that a constructor of a fake banner would also put in the time and effort to associate it with an unrelated film.
The leak has been dubbed "'''the Grinch leak'''", as a previously unseen render of the {{s|wikipedia|Grinch}} can be seen in the bottom right corner in one of the pictures, and another render of the Grinch with his dog, Max, can be seen at the top of another picture. The particular renders are promotional{{fact}} material for the then-upcoming 2018 film ''{{iw|wikipedia|The Grinch|film}}'', which seemingly supported the leak's validity, as few believed that a constructor of a fake banner would also put in the time and effort to associate it with an unrelated film. A cropping error on the banner and some stray green pixels also existed where Isaac's location was in the Grinch leak, seemingly further supporting its validity.


Hours after the leak's emergence and popularity, several fans noted that there were inconsistencies with an official picture of the background seen in the banner, as well as the fact that one could easily photoshop characters out of the picture entirely,<ref>https://smashboards.com/threads/smash-ultimate-discussion-warning-possible-spoilers-leaks.434391/page-5979#post-22581992</ref> and started to doubt its legitimacy.<ref>https://twitter.com/MrNantendo/status/1055206265964716042</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivL1yvVtpfA</ref> It was also revealed by French graphics company Marina PLV that the leaker used to work for them, and left the company in 2016<ref>https://www.facebook.com/MarinaPLV/posts/1070378256464354</ref>; this, while true, was countered by the fact that the company the leak came from is ACP-PLV, where the leaker currently works.<ref>https://nintendosoup.com/more-evidence-the-super-smash-bros-ultimate-character-leaks-are-real-have-surfaced/</ref>
Hours after the leak's emergence and popularity, several fans noted that there were inconsistencies with an official picture of the background seen in the banner, as well as the fact that one could easily photoshop characters out of the picture entirely,<ref>https://smashboards.com/threads/smash-ultimate-discussion-warning-possible-spoilers-leaks.434391/page-5979#post-22581992</ref> and started to doubt its legitimacy.<ref>https://twitter.com/MrNantendo/status/1055206265964716042</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivL1yvVtpfA</ref> It was also revealed by French graphics company Marina PLV that the leaker used to work for them, and left the company in 2016<ref>https://www.facebook.com/MarinaPLV/posts/1070378256464354</ref>; this, while true, was countered by the fact that the company the leak came from is ACP-PLV, where the leaker currently works.<ref>https://nintendosoup.com/more-evidence-the-super-smash-bros-ultimate-character-leaks-are-real-have-surfaced/</ref>


In the Nintendo Direct on November 1, 2018, Ken and Incineroar were revealed as the final fighters in the base roster, contradicting the banner's rumored characters. Shadow and Isaac were shown in the direct, but as Assist Trophies, while Mach Rider, Geno, and the Chorus Kids were later revealed as Spirits. Additionally, Ken's artwork is slightly different than the leaked banner's<ref>[https://i.imgur.com/qm4vHcm.png]</ref> and in a completely different location. Banjo and Kazooie are the only characters in the leak that don't make an appearance in ''Ultimate'' in any shape or form (at least prior to DLC).
In the Nintendo Direct on November 1, 2018, Ken and Incineroar were revealed as the final fighters in the base roster, contradicting the banner's rumored characters. Shadow and Isaac were shown in the direct, but as Assist Trophies, while Mach Rider, Geno, and the Chorus Kids were later revealed as Spirits. Additionally, Ken's artwork is slightly different than the leaked banner's<ref>[https://i.imgur.com/qm4vHcm.png]</ref> and in a completely different location. Banjo and Kazooie are the only characters in the leak that didn't make an appearance in the base game in any shape or form, although they were revealed as the third DLC fighter in the Fighters Pass Vol. 1 on June 11th, 2019.


On June 11, 2019, Banjo & Kazooie were revealed as DLC, meaning that they and Ken are the only characters from this leak that ended up playable.
Much later in 2024, following a list of controversies from MysticDistance, who went by the name Midori on Twitter since 2022 and involving catfishing, grooming, and abuse, LunaTheTrip confirmed that he corroborated to the rumor. This also confirms the rumor was not done by one person, but as a group.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://x.com/LunaTheTrip/status/1801063091754401814|title=Luna on Twitter|date=June 12, 2024|accessdate=June 13, 2024|publisher=Twitter}}</ref>


===4chan DLC leak===
===Extra character slots datamine===
On November 24th, 2018, an alleged leak was [https://boards.fireden.net/v/thread/440346534/ posted on 4chan], the leaker claims a source from the DLC fighters which are:
On March 12, 2019, it was discovered that there were 16 character slots found for Adventure Mode, one of which was currently being used for {{SSBU|Piranha Plant}}. While the next five are known to be part of the [[Downloadable content (SSBU)|Fighters Pass]] (including {{SSBU|Joker}}), the other ten are unknown. This led to speculation that there would be future DLC characters beyond the Fighters Pass. While a [[Nintendo Direct]] on September 4th, 2019 would confirm that there would be more DLC characters, later in September 24th, 2019, Source Gaming released a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjqkmtSbVWc video] with help from decompiler jam1garner which they discovered that Joker took a placeholder slot just like Piranha Plant, but {{SSBU|Banjo and Kazooie}} and the {{SSBU|Hero}} did not take a slot, suggesting that two more fighters were added later in development of DLC. A total of 12 DLC fighters were released for the game, leaving 6 slots unaccounted for. The purpose of these extra slots remain unknown.
*A character owned by Atlus that might be [[Joker]] from ''{{h2|Persona (universe)|Persona 5}}''.
*A character owned by Square Enix that might be Crono from ''{{s|wikipedia|Chrono Trigger}}'' or Neku Sakuraba from ''{{s|wikipedia|The World Ends With You}}'', but hadn't been confirmed yet.
*A character owned by Microsoft that might be [[Banjo and Kazooie]] from ''[[Banjo-Kazooie (universe)|Banjo-Kazooie]]''.
*Edelgard from ''{{s|fireemblemwiki|Fire Emblem: Three Houses}}''.
*[[Sylux]] from ''{{s|metroidwiki|Metroid Prime: Hunters}}''.


The leaker's source also sent a video of a few "uncompleted" fighter models.
===IAmShifty/Brew Elfen Ryu Hayabusa Rumor===
On August 30th, 2019, a YouTube user by the name of IAmShifty posted a [https://youtu.be/JcwSKSy-nIY video] claiming that Ryu Hayabusa from the ''{{s|wikipedia|Ninja Gaiden}}'' series would be joining the Fighters Pass for ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''. According to the user, Ryu would be the fourth character to be announced for the Fighters Pass. Previously, he had supposedly correctly [https://youtu.be/TKe4M3VuN6o?t=125 leaked] {{SSBU|Isabelle}}, {{SSBU|Ken}}, {{SSBU|Incineroar}} and {{SSBU|Piranha Plant}} as playable characters, in addition to [[Marx]] appearing as a boss character in the game.


At The Game Awards 2018, it was revealed that {{SSBU|Joker}} would appear as the first Fighters Pass character, who would soon be followed during the Nintendo Direct E3 2019 event by a Square Enix rep {{SSBU|Hero}} and Microsoft rep {{SSBU|Banjo & Kazooie}}. It's currently unknown whether or not this leak simply had several lucky guesses.
IAmShifty's claim was proven false on the September 4th, 2019 Nintendo Direct when {{SSBU|Terry}} was revealed to be the fourth fighter in the Fighters Pass instead of Ryu Hayabusa. On October 15th, 2019 IAmShifty reiterated by [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFiLAWUhehk claiming] that Ryu Hayabusa would be the fifth character in the Fighters Pass. This lined up with a leaker called Brew Elfen, who also claimed that Ryu would be the fifth character and who had [https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=726541694366622&id=100010323940226&_rdr previously leaked] Piranha Plant on November 1st, 2018. These claims were proven false by the January 16, 2020 presentation when {{SSBU|Byleth}} was revealed instead, and as of the conclusion of Fighters Pass 2 with {{SSBU|Sora}}'s announcement, Ryu Hayabusa nor any ''Ninja Gaiden'' content appeared in ''Ultimate''.
===5channel Dragon Quest leak===
On December 15, 2018, an alleged leak was [https://krsw.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/ghard/1544370354/137 posted on 5channel], claiming that Erdrick from the ''Dragon Quest'' series would be appearing as a DLC fighter, acting as the new Square Enix rep for ''Super Smash Bros Ultimate''.


*There will be a male and female version of Erdick with 2 colours each of ''Dragon Quest X'''s Anlucia and the ''Dragon Quest XI'' Hero.
===''Doom''/''Super Mario RPG'' Mii Costume rumor===
*The stage is Alefgard, where Slime appears on screen with a skill.
[[File:MallowCacodemonCostumeLeak.png|thumb|right|The picture of the two Mii hats.]]
On November 4th, 2019, a 4chan user posted a [http://yuki.la/v/thread/484051013 thread] which included a picture of {{SSBU|Ken}} alongside a {{SSBU|Mii Brawler}} and {{SSBU|Mii Gunner}} wearing headgear based on {{s|mariowiki|Mallow}} from ''{{s|mariowiki|Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars}}'' and a [https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Cacodemon Cacodemon] from the {{uvm3|Doom}} series, respectively, on [[Yggdrasil's Altar]]. Later, the same user would post [https://yuki.la/v/484051013#p484051776 two] [https://yuki.la/v/484051013#p484052690 videos] demonstrating said characters during gameplay. The image was compared with the image shown in a [[Leak#Ken leak|previous leak]] from 4chan that revealed Ken as a playable fighter: it features every character within the scene [[taunt]]ing—including Ken using his up taunt—and takes place in a [[Time]] match with the [[match timer]] frozen at 2:30, further demonstrated in the videos.


It was noted that the ''Dragon Quest'' collaboration was achieved through active collaboration on Square Enix's side, to benefit overseas marketing for the ''Dragon Quest'' series.
The latter point suggested that a developer build similar to that in the Ken leak was used for the media (and later, memes with Ken's taunt, dubbed [https://twitter.com/ThumbsUpKen "Thumbs Up Ken"], being photoshopped onto future leaks and other unrelated media), and, along with the remaining similarities, raised speculation over the leaker being the author of both threads. Furthermore, it generated speculation about the additions of [[Geno]] and the [[Doom Slayer]] as downloadable fighters. Conversely, many argued the headgear to be Mii costume [[mod]]s, in particular citing the possibility of a [https://gamebanana.com/skins/173050 ''Smash 4'' Mallow hat mod] being ported to ''Ultimate''. The creator of the mod alleged to be ported has also uploaded a [https://gamebanana.com/skins/173096 Cacodemon hat mod], further implying correlation. Soon following ''Ultimate''{{'}}s release, the modding community [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLgYZrPJYIM#t=273 noted] the difficulty in modifying Mii costumes for the game, initially adding further credibility to the supposed leak; however, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nul5vCQVScI evidence to the contrary] arose due to the spread of the rumor, and although publicized attempts by modders to recreate the Mallow and Cacodemon Mii Hats have yet to be of the high quality shown in the leaked picture and videos, the response to the "leaked" content has been largely doubtful.


In the same leak, it was also claimed that Joker's stage from ''Persona 5'' would be [[Mementos]], and that Jack Frost would appear on screen with a skill.
In a January 2020 [https://www.nintendoenthusiast.com/doom-eternals-director-wants-doom-slayer-in-smash-nintendo-doesnt/ interview], ''Doom Eternal'' director Marty Stratton revealed that the ''Doom'' team hadn't been approached by Nintendo about content from the franchise appearing in ''Super Smash Bros.'', calling into question the validity of the rumor. [[Vault Boy]], another character from a Bethesda-owned IP, was added as a Mii costume in June 2020; some believed this could point towards future Bethesda content in ''Smash'' such as the Cacodemon Mii hat, but most were skeptical that the Mii Fighter costumes would have remained unrevealed for upwards of seven months after their completion.


This leak is notable in it accurately leaking ''Granblue Fantasy: Versus'' before its official announcement.
While returning [[Geno]] and new [[Doom Slayer]] Mii Fighter costumes would eventually be released in December 2020 and October 2021 respectively, neither of the rumored costumes ever appeared in ''Ultimate'', and development of the game's DLC officially concluded alongside the addition of the Slayer costume.


On April 16, 2019, a special Smash video was released on YouTube, and while the leak got Joker's stage correct, the Jack Frost appearance on the stage was false. The rest of the leak itself was mostly false by the Nintendo Direct @ E3 2019; while Erdrick is in ''Smash Ultimate'', he's an alternative costume of {{SSBU|Hero}} instead of an individual character slot, thus there is no female variant of him at all.
===Activision 5 Year ''Crash Bandicoot'' Plan rumor===
On October 5, 2020, Twitter user [https://twitter.com/TheNintendata @TheNintendata] posted about a supposed leaked document from Activision that contained a five-year plan for the ''{{s|wikipedia|Crash Bandicoot}}'' franchise. Following plans to see the ''{{s|wikipedia|Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy}}'' on other platforms; ''{{s|wikipedia|Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled}}''; its Grand Prix service; ''Crash Bandicoot: On The Run!''; and ''{{s|wikipedia|Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time}}'' released, this document was rumored to include the addition of Crash Bandicoot to ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' in [https://www.dexerto.com/smash/leak-claims-crash-bandicoot-will-join-smash-ultimate-in-2021-1428075/ 2021 as downloadable content].


===5channel DLC leak===
The five-year ''Crash Bandicoot'' plan had first been mentioned on January 19, 2018, by the European publication [https://issuu.com/maxpublishing/docs/lsb_spring_2018 Licensing Source Book], which "covers the entire licensing industry." Although specific details were not revealed at the time, on page 97 the publication revealed a statement from Max Arguile, Licensing Manager of GB Eye saying, "Looking ahead to 2018 Max picks out ''Crash Bandicoot'' as one to watch: "The new game has had a huge success at retail with no marketing spend. Next, it will be going broader (Switch and PC), and there will be another game in 2019. Activision have a five-year plan for this and GB Eye is delighted to be fully on board for all products." [https://www.destructoid.com/stories/rumor-activision-has-a-five-year-plan-for-crash-bandicoot-involves-switch-486327.phtml Destructoid] corroborated the story from Licensing Source Book on February 5, 2018.
On January 4, 2019, [https://krsw.5ch.net/test/read.cgi/ghard/1544363780/12 a separate leak was uncovered] that was also posted on 5channel. This leak stated everything the 12/15 leak claimed along with the rest of the DLC fighters, but what also interested people was that it was posted on December 9, before the other leak. According to the newly discovered "leak", the rest of the DLC characters are:


*Ryu Hayabusa from ''Ninja Gaiden''
This rumor was eventually disconfirmed after the confirmation of {{SSBU|Sora}} as the last fighter for ''Ultimate''.
*Steve from ''Minecraft'', with Alex and Master Chief as alternate costumes
*The Marine protagonist (popularly known as "Doomguy" or "Doom Slayer") from ''Doom'', with his appearance from ''Doom 64'' as an alternate costume.
 
Other allegations related to the DLC include:
 
*Steve and the Marine will be revealed at E3 2019.
*Steve was originally going to be in the base roster, but he was moved to the Fighters Pass in order to promote DLC for ''Minecraft Dungeons''.
*The Marine is intended to be a promotion for ''Doom Eternal''.
 
It also included the claim that ''Persona 5 R'' will be released in 2019. On December 30, 2018, Atlus ended up [https://gearnuke.com/persona-5-r-announced-march-2019/ announcing] this title, leading many people to believe these leaks are real. It should be noted, however, that P5R was already rumored before this leak due to Atlus registering a domain for it in 2017<ref>https://gearnuke.com/persona-5-r-complete-2019-persona-5-arena-development/</ref>.
 
Unlike the leak that surfaced on December 15, this one stated that its source is Reddit, edited in the rumor momentarily, noting Erdrick's English name along with his Japanese name, Roto, and also doesn't mention ''Granblue Fantasy: Versus''. It also claimed that P5R will be releasing in the first half of 2019, opposed to the later 5channel rumor, which is still not confirmed at the moment. It's unlikely that they were posted by the same person.
 
The claim that ''Persona 5 R'' (later revealed to be ''Persona 5: The Royal'') would release in the first half 2019 was proven false on April 24 2019, where Atlus announced that the game would release in Japan on October 31 2019, which is in the latter half of the year. While this did not necessarily hurt the credibility of this leak's claims, the leak was ultimately debunked when {{SSBU|Banjo & Kazooie}} was announced as the third DLC fighter instead of any of the fighters listed from the leak.
 
===DLC datamines===
On January 3rd, 2019, information quickly spread in regards to the first few DLC characters for ''Ultimate'', as, information regarding their movesets was found in the game data. Three characters were listed, under codenames: {{SSBU|Piranha Plant}}, under "packun", {{SSBU|Joker}}, under "jack", and an unknown third character under the name "brave". While it is unconfirmed who or what "Brave" is referring to, speculation regarding who it is includes the [[Hero]] from ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' as his Japanese default name and class in most games of the series is {{ja|勇者|Yūsha}} (''Yūsha''), that means "Hero" and directly translates to "Brave" in English, Yuri Lowell from ''Tales of Vesperia'' as his guild name is Brave Vesperia, a character from the ''Bravely'' series (most likely Tiz or Agnès), Sora from ''Kingdom Hearts'' (as [http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Valor_Form Valor Form] (called "Brave Form" in Japanese) is a Drive Form of Sora's in ''Kingdom Hearts II'' and ''III''), a Monster Hunter from the {{uv|Monster Hunter}} series (as a Hunting Style in ''Monster Hunter Generations'' is called "Brave Style"), a character from ''{{s|wikipedia|Yo-kai Watch}}'' within the [http://yokaiwatch.wikia.com/wiki/Brave_(tribe) Brave tribe], or a main character from ''{{s|wikipedia|Final Fantasy Brave Exvius}}''. The parameter data<ref>https://twitter.com/_Mizumi/status/1080971781790416896</ref> of "Brave" revealed that their weight is between {{SSBU|Mega Man}}, {{SSBU|Cloud}}, and {{SSBU|Mii Swordfighter}}, their running speed is between {{SSBU|Young Link}} and {{SSBU|Kirby}}, and they don't have a rapid jab, wall jump or crawl.
 
The data for "jack" and "brave" was [https://twitter.com/Meshima_/status/1090492035629346818 removed] from the game data in [[List of updates (SSBU)#2.0.0|version 2.0.0]].
 
Later, text strings were discovered in the game data that appear to refer to upcoming DLC. Due to a technical oversight in a particular file format used for ''Ultimate''{{'}}s stage data, unrelated development text leaked into stage data files. The string "Jack_Menentoes_" was [https://twitter.com/DrHyperCake/status/1098341121170665473 discovered], possibly referring to Joker's stage as [https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Mementos Mementos] from ''Persona 5''. Another [https://twitter.com/DrHyperCake/status/1098748513251291136 discovery] possibly implies that one or more of Joker's alternate costumes is an alternate character who has a ponytail hairstyle. However, it's currently unknown whether this truly refers to an alternate costume, or if it refers to a less prominent asset, such as a non-playable Final Smash character. On 23rd March 2019, a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygyz3Mqjh0k teaser] for P5R was released, revealing a female character who has a ponytail hairstyle; however, her connection to Joker and whether or not she is an alternate version of him, is currently debunked, as she is confirmed being a new party member.
The speculation regarding a female Joker being in ''Ultimate'' was proven false on April 16th 2019, where a special Smash video that showcased Joker showed that he didn't have a female version as an alternate costume.
 
It was later presumably confirmed, during the Nintendo Direct E3 2019 presentation, that the codename "brave" was indeed refering to Dragon Quest's {{SSBU|Hero}}
 
===Image interpretation===
On February 4th, 2019, the general director of the {{uv|Kirby}} series, Shinya Kumazaki, [https://www.instagram.com/p/Bta15lBFa00/ made a post on Instagram] showcasing a number of photos of Kirby next to Erdrick's shield from the ''Dragon Quest'' series. The post reads: "The brave's shield. {{ja|そして伝説がはじまった!|Soshite densetsu ga hajimatta!}} (''And thus, the legend started!'')" This led many fans to speculate that Kumazaki was referring to the DLC character datamine that uncovered the codename "Brave" hidden away in its data, as Erdrick's Hero class, or "Yuusha," can also be translated as "Brave." However, the post has since been edited to state that "This picture has no meaning," and Kumazaki's profile was updated to read "Photo are unrelated to work." Kumazaki is not directly involved in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series, only being listed as an "Original Game Supervisor" for ''Ultimate''.
 
It may have been merely a coincidance, as {{SSBU|Hero}} would later be confirmed to join the roster.
 
===Extra game modes datamine===
On March 8, 2019, ''Ultimate''{{'}}s files were [https://www.gamnesia.com/news/rumor-smash-ultimate-is-getting-home-run-contest-and-a-stage-builder datamined], revealing two files named "howtoplay_stage_builder.html" and "howtoplay_homerun.html". The intended purpose of these files is unknown, but it has led fans to speculate that [[Stage Builder]] and [[Home-Run Contest]] are returning to ''Ultimate'' in a future update, with "howtoplay" signifying that the files are for a menu that pops up when the player first selects the modes.
 
A [[leak]] in an advert by Nintendo would later reveal that a stage builder was in fact being developed, and it was officially revealed on April 16, set to be released the following day.
 
===Extra character slots datamine===
On March 12, 2019, it was discovered that there were 16 character slots found for Adventure Mode, one of which was currently being used for {{SSBU|Piranha Plant}}. While the next five are known to be part of the [[Downloadable content (SSBU)|Fighters Pass]] (including {{SSBU|Joker}}), the other ten are unknown. This has lead to speculation that there will be future DLC characters beyond the Fighters Pass.


==References==
==References==
Line 541: Line 239:


==See also==
==See also==
*[[Leak]]
*[[List of leaks]]


==External links==
==External links==
Line 547: Line 245:
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20071029035729/http://ssbm.detstar.com/toadrumor/ Toad rumor on Detstar]
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20071029035729/http://ssbm.detstar.com/toadrumor/ Toad rumor on Detstar]
*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=6CiiDYeOxi0& The Master Hand Rumor]
*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=6CiiDYeOxi0& The Master Hand Rumor]


[[Category:Super Smash Bros. series]]
[[Category:Super Smash Bros. series]]
[[Category:Rumors]]
[[Category:Rumors]]
[[Category:Lists]]
[[Category:Lists]]

Latest revision as of 14:02, October 9, 2024

A hoax photo of Ultimate's supposed finalized banner of the roster that contained several characters that would not be playable in Ultimate; dubbed "The Grinch Leak" due to being shown with advertisements for the then-upcoming movie.

A rumor is a statement or story that gains traction within popular discourse but lacks sufficient verifiable evidence to be confirmed or denied. Like many other games, the Super Smash Bros. series has had various rumors spread about it, usually through the internet, and sometimes magazines. Most of the time, rumors claimed to contain information concerning playable characters, though rumors concerning other aspects of gameplay, such as development scheduling, can also appear.

Rumors typically have no more than hearsay as evidence, though some can contain true information, or even fabricated information that coincidentally becomes true with later developments. Rumors can be proven true or false on arrival via fact-checking or by waiting for relevant information from official sources, though the vast majority are proven false. That being said, rumors that are later proven true tend to receive concrete evidence later on, shifting it into the realm of leaks. Some false rumors are intentionally created to give the creator attention or just cause commotion, with some going as far as to fabricate evidence, with instances of this nature being defined as a hoax.

While rumors about the Smash series are innumerable, this article documents only especially notable rumors, whether for being well known and widely spread, for being from a notable source, or for other noteworthy reasons worth mentioning.

Common/Recurring rumors

An example rumored leak of Brawl's selection screen. Note that Toon Link is named as Young Link.

As with any game, the Smash Bros. series has had various works of fan art being passed off as supposedly leaked screenshots. Box art and character selection screens for Brawl were particularly common, though images of characters in the game also appeared. Shortly before and after the release of the game in Japan, these images had become more and more common, though the use of video streaming sites such as YouTube quickly disproved most of these rumors as more gameplay footage of the game became public.

Many character selection screens for Melee also made the rounds, though these screens were less credible due to the ability to quickly distribute images on the internet being unfeasible during Melee's release; by then, all the unlockables had been well-known. Some of these fake rosters, however, were merely made as jokes, including a particularly famous image featuring over 108 characters and eight player slots. The inability to easily customize the character roster for the original game has prevented fake rosters from appearing, as there are no empty spaces, and the game was released before the internet was widespread.

While extremely common, fake character rosters are relatively easy to debunk. Particularly low-quality rosters will often use art from various other sources, violating the trend in the series where all art is original to the games. For example, in the image to the right, Luigi's image is a mirrored version of his official artwork from Super Mario 64 DS; adding to this, the hoaxed image features both three-dimensional models (such as for the aforementioned Luigi and the F-Zero character Black Shadow) and two-dimensional illustrations (such as for Marth and Fire Emblem character Micaiah). Furthermore, hoaxers have sometimes made various oversights while producing such images. A minor hoax, for instance, claimed to feature the character Agnès from Bravely Default as a playable character, but the faked images improperly spelt her name as "Agnés", and her character portrait was different between the two images given.[1]

Rumors about Super Smash Bros.

Non-playable characters hoaxes

Being able to play as characters such as Metal Mario, Giant Donkey Kong, Master Hand, or a Fighting Polygon was the main source of rumors during the game's era. As with other rumors of the time, the supposed criteria ranged from unusual (spinning the control stick 30 times) to ludicrous (completing the 1P Game as every character in a specific order on Very Hard with a stock of one). Many videos on YouTube continue to claim these rumors, but all of these which supposedly work merely use cheat devices to allow playability of these characters.

Scrapped characters rumor

A popular rumor about Smash 64 that came around long after its release was that several characters were planned to be playable in the game, but cut due to time and/or memory constraints. The characters most often rumored to have been planned but cut are Peach, Wario, Pit, and Meowth. A page on the official Smash 64 website claims that Bowser, King Dedede, and Mewtwo were indeed planned to be playable in Smash 64, but the reason for their exclusion is not specifically stated.[2] Additionally, Marth was planned but cut due to time constraints, according to an interview from a book titled Making of Fire Emblem: 25 Years of Development Secrets.[3] No sources, however, have been proven to support Pit, Meowth, Peach, Wario, or any other characters as having ever been planned to be playable in the game.

Rumors about Super Smash Bros. Melee

Sonic and Tails hoax

EGM's "proof" of Sonic and Tails appearing in SSBM

The Sonic and Tails rumor in Melee remains one of the most infamous rumors not just in the Super Smash Bros. series, but also in the world of video games. An April Fools' joke pulled by the gaming-themed magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly said that Sonic and Tails could be unlocked after defeating 20 enemies in Cruel Melee, then defeating the two in a two-against-one battle. The blurb also claimed that upon completing Classic Mode with either of the two characters, the player would get a "special surprise". While EGM was famous for its previous April Fools' Day pranks, such as the infamous "Sheng Long cheat" in Street Fighter II (which would later be referenced by Ryu's reveal trailer in Smash 4), many readers still fell for the rumor.

The rumor can be debunked through multiple pieces of evidence:

  • The given unlock message does not follow the grammatical patterns of other unlock messages, specifically in its overuse of capitalized words. This can be seen by comparing the above image's notice with that of Pichu's.
  • After unlocking all 25 characters, the player receives a Notice that they have unlocked all characters, so unlocking more characters would contradict the Notice.
  • After obtaining all trophies, the player receives a Notice that they have unlocked all trophies, but clearing any of the one-player modes with Sonic or Tails should yield more trophies, thus contradicting the Notice.
  • The pair's positions on opposite sides of the character selection screen defies the general rule that characters of a series are grouped together once everyone is unlocked. Additionally, their presence blocks the random character functionality with no apparent replacement, an unlikely occurrence in terms of game design.
  • In the screenshot claiming to show Sonic as a selectable character, Sonic's art is identical to one of his official renders from Sonic Adventure on the Sega Dreamcast. In contrast, all other characters in the game have completely original art for their character select portraits.
  • At the time of the production of Melee, Sega and Nintendo were rivals both in the software and hardware businesses, making it unlikely that the two would work together to develop a game.
  • There is no data on the game's disc relating to the duo, and they cannot be selected with the debug menu.
  • The method for unlocking the two simply does not work. Numerous videos have demonstrated getting more than 20 KOs in Cruel Melee, whether naturally or via exploits such as the Master Hand glitch, does not unlock the duo, and in the early years of the rumor, an infamous video featuring Pikachu getting 565 KOs in Cruel Melee effectively disproved the hoax.
  • Although subtle, EGM attempted to hint readers that the cheat was actually an April Fools' joke; previous jokes would feature a "1" and "4" in some way as to reference April Fools' Day, as the shorthand date for the day is 4/1 in America or 1/4 in Europe. Owing to this, the Notice commemorating Sonic and Tails being unlocked had the date as "4.1.2002".

The rumor rapidly spread following its publication, with rival publication Nintendo Power publishing an article about how the rumor was a hoax, and the page on Melee in Nintendo's website also writing about how the rumor was false. EGM would eventually confess in its next issue that the cheat was an April Fools' joke, and, like its previous April Fools' Day jokes, mock those who took it seriously. EGM later offered a contest where players who submitted video proof of getting 20 or more KOs in Cruel Melee could receive a free copy of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Sonic's first game on a Nintendo system. Due to the wide spread of rumors relating to Sonic characters, the FAQ on Melee's US website notified players that Sonic, along with Knuckles, was not a playable character.[4]

Sonic later became a playable character in all Smash games starting with Brawl, while Tails made a number of cameo appearances.

This rumor would later go on to be referenced in the "Super Smash Bros. Series" column of the Sonic the Hedgehog Encyclo-speed-ia, where it is jokingly stated within the unlock requirements for Sonic that "defeating ten enemies in Cruel Melee in Super Smash Bros. Melee is not one of them," though erroneously stating ten enemies needed to be defeated rather than 20.

Toad hoax

"Proof" of Toad appearing on the Character Select screen.

The Toad rumor, initially posted on a small Geocities site in November of 2002, stated that Toad could be unlocked as a playable character in Melee after obtaining a perfect score during the credits mini-game, which is played after completing any one-player mode; after hitting all the credits, the player would then have to clear Adventure Mode (with a requirement of "easily defeating" the Yoshis in the Mushroom Kingdom stage), after which they would be able to unlock him. The site also gave several fake screenshots depicting Toad in various in-game scenarios, propagating the rumor; it came to the point where the images had become more well-known than the site and the supposed method to unlock him, with explanations sometimes varying strongly from the original.

The method was disproved by the same evidence as the Sonic and Tails rumor, because in addition to Toad's place on the character select screen defying the rule that all characters in a series should be grouped together, the screenshots of Toad were made by taking images from Toad when he was running around the Mushroom Kingdom of the Adventure Mode of the game. Inconsistencies with the actual gameplay surrounding Toad also debunked the rumor; the site says that Toad has no accommodations in All-Star Mode, has no trophies, and has no videos for his Ending Sequence after finishing a 1-Player game, unlikely occurrences in terms of game design. The site itself also contributed to the debunking of the rumor; it was hosted on GeoCities, a former web hosting site that allowed anyone to create their own pages, causing the rumor to be considerably less credible than the Sonic and Tails rumor (which was featured in a widely-read magazine). The site also featured some incorrect information; for instance, when speaking about the game's Adventure Mode, the site claims that the ordeal is similar to unlocking Falco - Falco, however, is unlockable in Multi-Man Melee, not in Adventure Mode. Numerous spelling and grammatical errors were also present on the page, such as the misspelling of "taunt" as "taught". Tool-assisted runs of a perfect score of the credits and a perfect score by Porkyz on February 2, 2021[5][6] proved nothing is unlocked with a perfect score.

NeoGAF scrapped characters rumor

Long after Melee's release in May of 2012, a NeoGAF user named cednym would post information about planned content for Melee that was scrapped, which he supposedly found in old Famitsu issues from 2002. Among the claims were several characters being planned for inclusion, which were: King Dedede being the character next inline for inclusion if Masahiro Sakurai could not receive permission from Intelligent Systems to use Marth, as well as being considered for inclusion in the place of the six clones; that Sakurai considered a Pokémon Trainer character using the second generation starter Pokémon, but there wasn't enought time and resources for such a labor intensive character; Wario was briefly considered as the Mario clone, with low speed and high attack power, but Sakurai felt that Wario deserved better; Wolf was initially slotted as Fox's clone, but Sakurai felt he would be perceived as "a grey-colored Fox", so he went with Falco for his more distinct appearance; and Leif from Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 was initially slotted as Marth's clone, but after Intelligent Systems shown Sakurai a preview of the upcoming Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, he thought Roy would be a better fit, with his fire properties making him stand out.[7] While cednym provided no evidence to legitimize his post, these claims would proliferate within the Smash community as accepted information about Melee's development for several years after. In 2016, Source Gaming would attempt to find these old Famitsu translations or any other information to support these claims, in their endeavor to chronicle all characters that were ever planned or seriously considered for inclusion in any Smash game for their "The Definitive List of Unused Fighters in Smash" article. However, they could not find anything that corroborated any of cednym's claims, in fact they would only find information that contradicted it, such as Sakurai confirming that Wario was the character next inline for inclusion, not King Dedede, as well as Sakurai confirming that he wouldn't have been able to add a single unique newcomer in the place of the six clones, contradicting the claim that Dedede could have been included in their place. Eventually, PushDustin, the admin of Source Gaming at the time, would contact cednym directly for verification of his claims, where he would then admit that his post was entirely falsified.[8]

Rumors about Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Radio interview rumor

Shortly after Brawl's announcement, a rumor claimed that in a radio interview, Masahiro Sakurai confirmed that Ridley, a cel-shaded Link, and Bowser Jr. would be playable characters. Coinciding with this was the rumor of Young Link, the Ice Climbers, and Mr. Game & Watch being dropped. This was proven to be false; while Toon Link does replace Young Link in Brawl as the second Link, Ridley appears as a boss instead of a playable character, Bowser Jr. only appears as a sticker and trophy, and Mr. Game & Watch and the Ice Climbers returned as playable characters in Brawl.

Coincidentally, Bowser Jr. was later playable in Smash 4, with technical limitations of the Nintendo 3DS also causing the Ice Climbers to be cut from the game; despite this, Ridley did not become a playable character until Ultimate, and Mr. Game & Watch still returned in every game after Brawl.

Animal Crossing characters rumors

During the development of Brawl, multiple rumors suggested that a character from Animal Crossing, such as the generic playable character (termed an "Animal Crosser") or Tom Nook, would be playable in Brawl. A statement was reportedly made by Sakurai on the matter, which claimed that "On one hand, they have an innocent charm to them that could be ruined if they were in a fighting game"; the veracity of this statement, however, is disputed. Despite the lack of a playable character, Animal Crossing is strongly represented in Brawl by some music tracks, trophies, stickers, an Assist Trophy, a stage, and numerous cameos on said stage.

An Animal Crossing Villager eventually became a playable character in Smash 4; an interview with Sakurai also states that the Villager was considered for inclusion in Brawl, but the idea was rejected because "he wasn't suited for battle".

Assist trophy rumors

Towards the end of 2007, the Whobby Game Festival occurred in Japan; among its primary points of interests was that a playable demo of Super Smash Bros. Brawl would be available for play by attendants. Due to the event taking place only in Japan, a region with relatively little representation in most English-speaking websites, such as Smashboards, updates on the game were sparse and difficult to confirm. The most well-known claim, however, stated that Assist Trophies of Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy, Duster from Mother 3, and Muddy Mole from Mole Mania would be featured in the game.

Amid an increase in English-speakers that played demos at events, as well as the release of the game, the rumor was proven false, and further hacking of the game proved that no such evidence of the trio were even planned to be included. It is unknown if the trophies were mistaken for other support characters (such as Gardevoir being confused for Rosalina or Mr. Resetti being confused for Muddy) or if these claims were deliberately hoaxed to fool players. Incidentally, Rosalina would become playable starting with Smash 4.

Downloadable content rumor

Shortly after Brawl was released in America, a newspost appeared on the internet, claiming that Brawl would feature four downloadable characters and two downloadable stages, as well as a new Wii Channel of "Wii Want More". The discovery of multiple unused character files present in the game also added credence to the rumor, under the assumption that the empty files rendered it easier to create add-on content.

The rumor was quickly proven as false; Masahiro Sakurai himself stated that downloadable content would never be coming for Brawl, as the Wii's flash-based internal hardware is incapable of patching or otherwise modifying a game based on a downloaded file; though The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword would later have a Wii channel dedicated to fixing a bug that prevented game progression, this was not a proper downloadable patch, and instead fixed the user's save data for the game. The supposed release date of 13 May 2008 also passed without a "Wii Want More" channel being released or announced. Additionally, in a vein similar to the Toad rumor, the site was hosted on 110MB, a hosting site where anyone on the internet can publish content. However, downloadable content would become a prominent part of subsequent games, starting with Super Smash Bros. 4.

Rumors about Super Smash Bros. 4

Super Smash Bros. Universe rumor

A picture of the document leading to the Super Smash Bros. Universe rumor.

Shortly after the official announcement of the fourth Super Smash Bros., an image circulated around the internet detailing what appeared to be an advertisement or design document that was said to be from the official Nintendo headquarters in Japan for "Super Smash Bros. Universe"; multiple imageboards worked to translate the document, leading to some supposed preliminary idea for the games.[9] Sakurai, however, stated that he had not begun working on the new Smash Bros. at the time and was focusing on Kid Icarus Uprising; the documents were later finally disproven when it was demonstrated that the game's title would not be Super Smash Bros. Universe.

Lucina hoax

Mario and Lucina appear to fight on the Great Sea.

An All is Brawl blog post made on the 25th of June in 2013 claimed that an image had been leaked on the Smash 4 website, presumably from the "image of the day". The image shows Mario and Lucina (from Fire Emblem Awakening) on a Fairy Isle in the Great Sea. There was no evidence on the site, however; the image of the day instead featured Link doing an aerial Spin Attack in Skyloft.

This image, while initially appearing to be legitimate, was actually compiled using a variety of elaborate mods available for Brawl. The stage seen in the image is a Fairy Isle modded stage, and the Mario in the image uses a texture hack to make his model more closely resemble his newer model in Smash 4; Lucina herself is identical to a Project Smash Attacks mod seen in "The Lucina PSA". While this rumor did not become particularly widespread outside All is Brawl and was debunked fairly quickly, the hoax was the first to showcase the level of elaboration that Brawl mods bring to rumor producers; many later hoaxed images would similarly use mods to try making their faked leaks look more realistic, and purported leaks consisting of game screenshots or videos were often compared to already existing Brawl mods to check for their credibility.

While this rumor was false, Lucina would later be confirmed to be a playable character on July 14th, 2014, alongside Robin, over one year after the faked image was first posted. Expectedly, she did not at all resemble her appearance in the hoaxed image, further establishing that the image was a hoax.

Palutena hoax

The purported images of Palutena.

On 22 January 2014, two supposedly leaked images of Palutena in the 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. 4 began to circulate on the internet. The veracity of the images were immediately questioned, though some observers noted that the model and poses used by Palutena were not seen in any previous photo, and unlike the Lucina rumor, no hacks available for Brawl could replicate the image seen. Of particular note is that after the two images were released, a series of Kid Icarus-related images were released on Miiverse, leading some observers to speculate that Sakurai was aware of the Palutena images.

The models used in the hoaxed images.

During the 2014 E3 event, Nintendo confirmed Palutena's inclusion in the game, and gameplay footage of her was also shown; despite this, several differences between the models used in the rumored photos and the actual game were observed, which led to debate over whether or not the images were legitimate in the first place. The images were finally revealed hoaxes in a thread on 4chan concerning the ESRB leak; Mario and Palutena were created in an external program and these models were later digitally manipulated to resemble those from Super Smash Bros. 4.

Chunky Kong hoax

Farcical "proof" of Chunky Kong's appearance in Super Smash Bros. 4. The image itself is a modified still from the Patterson-Gimlin film.

During the E3 2014 demo and ensuing Smash-Fest, people reported seeing many previously unrevealed Assist Trophies, such as Shadow, Tingle, and Magnus. While these reports ended up being later confirmed by video evidence, one particular character implicated in these reports, Chunky Kong from Donkey Kong 64, completely eluded any sort of video or photographic evidence. Despite the lack of evidence, people initially generally believed this report, as it came from multiple independent sources, that even fully described his effect as "slamming the ground to make bananas fall from the sky". However, Smash-Fest passed without any sort of video or photographic evidence of Chunky Kong, and with the lack of direct or indirect confirmation from Sakurai, it became doubted if these reports were entirely telling the truth. Chunky Kong later became a minor in-joke within the Smash community; with the lack of any sort of concrete evidence to prove the character's existence despite multiple claims to the contrary, the character was jokingly compared to Bigfoot, a famous North American cryptid.

After E3 2014 passed, with there still being no visual evidence of Chunky Kong despite the tens of hours of new gameplay footage being seen, the Chunky Kong Assist Trophy was generally regarded as a false report, though it was not known if it was intentionally falsified information, or inadvertently mistaken with another gameplay element. The rumor was ultimately proven completely false after both the Japanese release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and the American release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, where Chunky Kong was still absent. About a month after Smash 4's release on Wii U, the poster who first reported the Chunky Kong Assist Trophy confessed to fabricating the claim; he initially intended to use the false piece of information to help himself catch fake leaks, as well as see how many people would repeat his seemingly outlandish claim.

Rayman DLC hoax

On February 14, 2015, multiple pictures taken of Ubisoft's Rayman supposedly in Smash 4 were posted onto 4chan. The images were of Rayman's character select screen icon, his render, his character unlock splash art, and the main menu of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U with a new sub menu for a shop. Several hours later, video footage of Rayman's icon in the character select screen being highlighted was posted onto YouTube, but it was later taken down by the uploader. Mewtwo could also be seen above Rayman in the video. A similarly-updated character select screen from the 3DS version also surfaced. Many observers initially believed the hoax, since the images and the video were seemingly error-free, were of reasonably high quality, had renders not seen in any official material, and featured video footage, which was considered near-impossible to fake. This rumor also lined up with a previous rumor, where Matt Ryan, a manager of communications, marketing, and alliances at Nintendo of Canada, made a comment suggesting that Rayman was in the game.

Ultimately, the Rayman rumor was disconfirmed the next day in a YouTube video showing how the images and video were faked by the user Artsy Omni, who revealed that he did it as a promotional stunt for his new web series, Smashified. Artsy Omni was also the artist and author of another previous high-quality fake of Klonoa becoming a playable character, which was quickly debunked because of errors in the Japanese text. Artsy Omni would later apologize for disappointing numerous Smash players with his hoax, though work on Smashified has continued.

Notably, the image of Rayman and Mewtwo's portraits in the 3DS version was not shown by Artsy Omni, instead being submitted by an unknown third party.

While a DLC shop for the game was added in a future update, it is only present in the 3DS version, as the Wii U version used the Nintendo eShop to purchase downloadable content; furthermore, the placement of the DLC Shop is in a completely different area than shown in the images.

Shovel Knight rumor

In late August 2015, Tamaki, an employee from Unseen64, reported that a "reputable source" had informed him of a forthcoming announcement of a Shovel Knight amiibo, and, by extension, an appearance of the character himself in Smash 4, which would be compatible with said amiibo, and retailers would be giving out download codes of said character. Yacht Club Games, the developers of Shovel Knight, did indeed reveal a Shovel Knight amiibo at PAX Prime 2015, but said amiibo was announced only as having compatibility with the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U versions of Shovel Knight. Shovel Knight's amiibo was also shown to have a different base and packaging from the Smash series of amiibo.

Despite these statements, Tamaki stated that Shovel Knight was still on the way according to his source, and was expected to come around the end of October or the beginning of November. The rumor was ultimately debunked following the final DLC announcements on December 15, 2015, where Shovel Knight failed to make an appearance of any kind. In 2018, the source came out and explained that he had the Shovel Knight amiibo leaked to him, wrongly "made the leap", as there were only Smash Bros amiibo available at the time, and gave Tamaki the info.[10]

Eventually, Shovel Knight made it in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but as an Assist Trophy.

Rumors about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Skull Kid/Dixie Kong/Isaac rumors

Loz18, who had correctly predicted several pieces of content in the E3 2018 and August 2018 Nintendo Directs (with the content that was not announced in August appearing in the game anyways), has made several posts (such as here) stating that Skull Kid is probably playable. A few days after the Direct, he closed his GameFAQs account, but not before stating on Twitter that Dixie Kong has a high chance of being playable, and possibly Isaac (these tweets have since been deleted), though he would retract his statements on Isaac on a Discord server. However, none of his new predictions came true, aside from his final statement on Isaac.

Dante rumor

Shortly after the reveal of Devil May Cry 5 at E3 2018, a 4chan user posted a thread claiming to have information related to the game and several other projects related to the franchise. Namely, that Dante, the protagonist of the series, would be a playable character in Ultimate. Throughout the year, several of the poster's claims would be verified, such as several story details, the existence of a training mode and the way that the character Nero purchases upgrades. Perhaps adding to the leak's credibility, a Netflix series based on the franchise was announced later that year, just as the poster had claimed. Users would go on to discover that a poll run by Hideki Kamiya, the original creator of the Devil May Cry and Bayonetta franchises, asked fans which version of Dante they'd prefer to see collaborate with Bayonetta. Users pointed out that the date of the poll, early 2016, aligns with the period of time which Sakurai had stated early development on Ultimate had begun, and that the version of Dante that won the poll was the same version that the 4chan poster had claimed would be in the game. In early August, Matt Walker, the producer of Devil May Cry 5, posted a suspicious tweet that seemed to allude to something related to the Nintendo Direct that would air during that week. Later in the year, Kamiya would meet up with Hideaki Itsuno, the current director of the Devil May Cry series at TGS 2018, adding fuel to the rumors. Eventually, the rumor had circulated enough that Walker took to Twitter to debunk Dante's presence in Smash.

As both Ultimate and Devil May Cry 5 released, with Dante absent from the former and the latter being inconsistent with much of the original 4chan post, it's very likely that the original poster simply made several very lucky guesses that were bolstered by a series of coincidences. Additionally, Itsuno told the press that he'd prefer to see the Devil May Cry series debut on Nintendo consoles before considering Dante as a playable fighter in Smash. On May 6th, 2019 a port of the original Devil May Cry was announced to be coming to Nintendo Switch, leading to further speculation following the comments made by Hideaki Itsuno.

On June 28, 2021, Dante was announced as a Mii Swordfighter costume, which was released alongside Challenger Pack 10 the following day.

"The Grinch leak"

The images of the alleged finalized banner.

On October 24th, 2018, an image quickly circulated around the internet of the apparent final version of Ultimate's character banner; in it, Isaac, Banjo & Kazooie, Shadow the Hedgehog, Ken Masters, the Chorus Kids from Rhythm Heaven, Geno, and the Mach Rider can be seen. Images of the banner were apparently posted from an unknown artist's Snapchat, and quickly spread across the internet, before getting deleted by the original poster. It seems that the post was intended to be a leak, as a caption in the image reads "nique ninteno[sic] mdrrr", which translates from French as "fuck ninteno[sic] lolll" ("mdr" in French is short for "mort de rire", or "dying of laughter", an equivalent to the English "laughing out loud" or "lol"). The validity of the pictures of the banner was difficult to disprove, as, much like the ESRB leak, renders of the new characters could not be found elsewhere on the internet.

The leak has been dubbed "the Grinch leak", as a previously unseen render of the Grinch can be seen in the bottom right corner in one of the pictures, and another render of the Grinch with his dog, Max, can be seen at the top of another picture. The particular renders are promotional[citation needed] material for the then-upcoming 2018 film The Grinch, which seemingly supported the leak's validity, as few believed that a constructor of a fake banner would also put in the time and effort to associate it with an unrelated film. A cropping error on the banner and some stray green pixels also existed where Isaac's location was in the Grinch leak, seemingly further supporting its validity.

Hours after the leak's emergence and popularity, several fans noted that there were inconsistencies with an official picture of the background seen in the banner, as well as the fact that one could easily photoshop characters out of the picture entirely,[11] and started to doubt its legitimacy.[12][13] It was also revealed by French graphics company Marina PLV that the leaker used to work for them, and left the company in 2016[14]; this, while true, was countered by the fact that the company the leak came from is ACP-PLV, where the leaker currently works.[15]

In the Nintendo Direct on November 1, 2018, Ken and Incineroar were revealed as the final fighters in the base roster, contradicting the banner's rumored characters. Shadow and Isaac were shown in the direct, but as Assist Trophies, while Mach Rider, Geno, and the Chorus Kids were later revealed as Spirits. Additionally, Ken's artwork is slightly different than the leaked banner's[16] and in a completely different location. Banjo and Kazooie are the only characters in the leak that didn't make an appearance in the base game in any shape or form, although they were revealed as the third DLC fighter in the Fighters Pass Vol. 1 on June 11th, 2019.

Much later in 2024, following a list of controversies from MysticDistance, who went by the name Midori on Twitter since 2022 and involving catfishing, grooming, and abuse, LunaTheTrip confirmed that he corroborated to the rumor. This also confirms the rumor was not done by one person, but as a group.[17]

Extra character slots datamine

On March 12, 2019, it was discovered that there were 16 character slots found for Adventure Mode, one of which was currently being used for Piranha Plant. While the next five are known to be part of the Fighters Pass (including Joker), the other ten are unknown. This led to speculation that there would be future DLC characters beyond the Fighters Pass. While a Nintendo Direct on September 4th, 2019 would confirm that there would be more DLC characters, later in September 24th, 2019, Source Gaming released a video with help from decompiler jam1garner which they discovered that Joker took a placeholder slot just like Piranha Plant, but Banjo and Kazooie and the Hero did not take a slot, suggesting that two more fighters were added later in development of DLC. A total of 12 DLC fighters were released for the game, leaving 6 slots unaccounted for. The purpose of these extra slots remain unknown.

IAmShifty/Brew Elfen Ryu Hayabusa Rumor

On August 30th, 2019, a YouTube user by the name of IAmShifty posted a video claiming that Ryu Hayabusa from the Ninja Gaiden series would be joining the Fighters Pass for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. According to the user, Ryu would be the fourth character to be announced for the Fighters Pass. Previously, he had supposedly correctly leaked Isabelle, Ken, Incineroar and Piranha Plant as playable characters, in addition to Marx appearing as a boss character in the game.

IAmShifty's claim was proven false on the September 4th, 2019 Nintendo Direct when Terry was revealed to be the fourth fighter in the Fighters Pass instead of Ryu Hayabusa. On October 15th, 2019 IAmShifty reiterated by claiming that Ryu Hayabusa would be the fifth character in the Fighters Pass. This lined up with a leaker called Brew Elfen, who also claimed that Ryu would be the fifth character and who had previously leaked Piranha Plant on November 1st, 2018. These claims were proven false by the January 16, 2020 presentation when Byleth was revealed instead, and as of the conclusion of Fighters Pass 2 with Sora's announcement, Ryu Hayabusa nor any Ninja Gaiden content appeared in Ultimate.

Doom/Super Mario RPG Mii Costume rumor

The picture of the two Mii hats.

On November 4th, 2019, a 4chan user posted a thread which included a picture of Ken alongside a Mii Brawler and Mii Gunner wearing headgear based on Mallow from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars and a Cacodemon from the Doom series, respectively, on Yggdrasil's Altar. Later, the same user would post two videos demonstrating said characters during gameplay. The image was compared with the image shown in a previous leak from 4chan that revealed Ken as a playable fighter: it features every character within the scene taunting—including Ken using his up taunt—and takes place in a Time match with the match timer frozen at 2:30, further demonstrated in the videos.

The latter point suggested that a developer build similar to that in the Ken leak was used for the media (and later, memes with Ken's taunt, dubbed "Thumbs Up Ken", being photoshopped onto future leaks and other unrelated media), and, along with the remaining similarities, raised speculation over the leaker being the author of both threads. Furthermore, it generated speculation about the additions of Geno and the Doom Slayer as downloadable fighters. Conversely, many argued the headgear to be Mii costume mods, in particular citing the possibility of a Smash 4 Mallow hat mod being ported to Ultimate. The creator of the mod alleged to be ported has also uploaded a Cacodemon hat mod, further implying correlation. Soon following Ultimate's release, the modding community noted the difficulty in modifying Mii costumes for the game, initially adding further credibility to the supposed leak; however, evidence to the contrary arose due to the spread of the rumor, and although publicized attempts by modders to recreate the Mallow and Cacodemon Mii Hats have yet to be of the high quality shown in the leaked picture and videos, the response to the "leaked" content has been largely doubtful.

In a January 2020 interview, Doom Eternal director Marty Stratton revealed that the Doom team hadn't been approached by Nintendo about content from the franchise appearing in Super Smash Bros., calling into question the validity of the rumor. Vault Boy, another character from a Bethesda-owned IP, was added as a Mii costume in June 2020; some believed this could point towards future Bethesda content in Smash such as the Cacodemon Mii hat, but most were skeptical that the Mii Fighter costumes would have remained unrevealed for upwards of seven months after their completion.

While returning Geno and new Doom Slayer Mii Fighter costumes would eventually be released in December 2020 and October 2021 respectively, neither of the rumored costumes ever appeared in Ultimate, and development of the game's DLC officially concluded alongside the addition of the Slayer costume.

Activision 5 Year Crash Bandicoot Plan rumor

On October 5, 2020, Twitter user @TheNintendata posted about a supposed leaked document from Activision that contained a five-year plan for the Crash Bandicoot franchise. Following plans to see the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy on other platforms; Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled; its Grand Prix service; Crash Bandicoot: On The Run!; and Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time released, this document was rumored to include the addition of Crash Bandicoot to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2021 as downloadable content.

The five-year Crash Bandicoot plan had first been mentioned on January 19, 2018, by the European publication Licensing Source Book, which "covers the entire licensing industry." Although specific details were not revealed at the time, on page 97 the publication revealed a statement from Max Arguile, Licensing Manager of GB Eye saying, "Looking ahead to 2018 Max picks out Crash Bandicoot as one to watch: "The new game has had a huge success at retail with no marketing spend. Next, it will be going broader (Switch and PC), and there will be another game in 2019. Activision have a five-year plan for this and GB Eye is delighted to be fully on board for all products." Destructoid corroborated the story from Licensing Source Book on February 5, 2018.

This rumor was eventually disconfirmed after the confirmation of Sora as the last fighter for Ultimate.

References

See also

External links