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<!-- 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 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 [[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.


==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.-->


[[File:Ssbb-roster-2.png|thumb|250px|An example rumored leak of ''Brawl''{{'}}s selection screen.]]
[[File:SSBB_fake_roster_example.png|thumb|250px|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]] and Vimeo 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 the ''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.-->
===Unlocking non-playable characters===
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 [[Action Replay|cheat]] [[GameShark|devices]] to allow playability of these characters.


===Cut characters===
===Non-playable characters hoaxes===
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 [[Bowser]], [[King Dedede]], [[Mewtwo]], [[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.
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.
 
===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>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.-->
===Unlocking Sonic and Tails===
[[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 [[Classic Mode]] with either of the two characters, the player would get a "special surprise". While ''EGM'' was famous for its [[wikipedia:EGM April Fools' jokes|numerous April Fools' jokes]], such as the infamous "[[wikipedia:Sheng Long|Sheng Long cheat]]", many readers still fell for the rumor.


The rumor can be debunked through many pieces of evidence:
===Sonic and Tails hoax===
*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]].
[[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.
*After unlocking all 25 characters, the player receives a notice that they have unlocked all characters, meaning that unlocking more characters should be impossible.
 
*Attaining all [[trophies]] gives the player a notice as well, but clearing any of the one-player modes with either character must yield more trophies, creating a paradox.
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 [[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 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.
*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 [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 during ''Melee's'' production, making it unlikely that the two would team up for 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.
**An 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 at all, and they cannot be selected from the [[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 simply does not work; in addition to an infamous video featuring {{SSBM|Jigglypuff}} garnering 565 KOs in Cruel Melee, numerous other videos have demonstrated that KOing more than 20 Wire Frames does not yield any new characters.
*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, to the point where rival publication ''{{s|wikipedia|Nintendo Power}}'' would publish an article about how the rumor was a hoax, and the page on ''Melee'' in Nintendo's website also spoke 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. As a prize for readers who sent in video proof of getting 20 or more KOs in Cruel Melee, however,  ''EGM'' rewarded copies of ''[[wikipedia:Sonic Adventure 2|Sonic Adventure 2: Battle]]'', which was 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>


Nevertheless, [[Sonic]] became a playable character in ''[[Brawl]]'' and ''[[Super Smash Bros. 4]]'', and Tails made cameo appearances as well.
[[Sonic]] later became a playable character in all Smash games starting with ''[[Brawl]]'', while Tails made a number of cameo appearances.


===Unlocking Toad===
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===
[[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; additionally, 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===
===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。}})|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''. Ironically, Lucas himself would 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}}.


==Rumors about ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''==
==Rumors about ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''==
<!-- 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.-->
===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, 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''.
 
===Clone removal rumor===
Another popular rumor stated that Sakurai claimed [[clone]]s would not exist in ''Brawl'', implying that {{SSBM|Dr. Mario}}, {{SSBM|Roy}}, {{SSBM|Pichu}}, {{SSBM|Ganondorf}}, {{SSBM|Falco}}, {{SSBM|Young Link}}, and (to a lesser extent) {{SSBM|Luigi}}, would be either removed or redesigned for ''Brawl''. Despite initially being disregarded as false, with most believing ''Brawl'' would likely have a similar developmental process as ''Melee'', the rumor was eventually proven true on ''Brawl's'' release; {{SSBB|Ganondorf}} and {{SSBB|Falco}} returned, but with considerable differences from ''Melee'', distancing them from the original characters of {{SSBB|Captain Falcon}} and {{SSBB|Fox}} respectively. {{SSBB|Luigi}} had multiple changes to his character as well, though the original of {{SSBB|Mario}} also had a few changes. Dr. Mario, Roy and Pichu were completely removed (although Dr. Mario returns in [[Dr. Mario (SSB4)|SSB4]] as a unlockable character), though data for the former two exists in the game. Young Link was also removed, though he was essentially replaced by {{SSBB|Toon Link}}; Toon Link, however, still has many differences from {{SSBB|Link}}, and is not as complete a clone as Young Link was. Additionally, of the 18 new playable characters added, only Toon Link and {{SSBB|Lucas}} had some considerable sort of cloning, and were semi-clones rather than complete clones. Overall, ''Brawl'' has no complete clones and five semi-clones out of 39 playable characters, compared to ''Melee''{{'}}s six complete clones and one semi-clone out of 26 playable characters, thus validating the rumor by having significantly less cloning.


===''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}}'', {{s|wikibound|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 Rosalina being confused for [[Gardevoir]]) or if these claims were deliberately hoaxed to fool players.
 
===A third third-party===
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 smashers speculating that another third party character was guaranteed to be included.
 
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>
 
====Capcom's Mega Man====
One of the most popularly-rumored characters was Capcom's [[Mega Man]], from his own self-titled series. The inclusion was considered plausible due to Mega Man having a very strong history with Nintendo consoles, as well as a resurgence in popularity with the ''Mega Man Anniversary Collection'' for the [[GameCube]]. Rumors claimed that a Japanese website from Nintendo was asking players which third-party characters they wanted to see, with Mega Man being second-most requested (behind only Sonic). No website, however, is known to exist to prove that this poll occurred.
 
While Mega Man ultimately did not appear in ''Brawl'', he was eventually introduced to ''Super Smash Bros.'' by being included as a playable character in ''Super Smash Bros. 4''. His appearance, however, led to a minor rumor about his lack of an appearance in ''Brawl''; rumors claimed that Mega Man was intentionally left out of ''Brawl'' due to Nintendo's anger over Capcom's mismanagement of the {{s|wikipedia|Capcom Five}} campaign. No official statements, however, have come from either company that can validate these rumors.
 
====A second ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' character====
After the announcement of Sonic appearing in ''Brawl'', another rumored third-party brawler was another character from the [[Sonic (universe)|''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series]]; Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow were the most commonly speculated, as Tails was Sonic's partner and close friend, Knuckles was a partner and rival, and Shadow was among the most popular characters in the series. Additionally, all three had been playable in the ''Sonic'' series. While they did not become playable, Tails and Knuckles appear in cameos on the [[Green Hill Zone]], while Shadow appears as an [[Assist Trophy]].


====Geno rumor====
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''.
[[File:Geno in Brawl rumor.png|thumb|A fan hack that adds Geno to the game, "unlocked" by toggling the Random Character box.]]
A popular rumor among some fans is that Nintendo had negotiated with Square Enix to receive a license for the inclusion of their character {{S|mariowiki|Geno}}, from ''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'' (a game which was developed with Square, who disallowed direct sequels to the game without their permission or involvement), as a playable character in ''Brawl''. This rumor suggested that Square declined to allow Geno's appearance, or they demanded a large amount of money to allow him. After the release of the game, rumors went as far as to suggest that the Random Character box on the character select screen was intended for Geno, which ties into the fact that it is located under the third-party characters of {{SSBB|Snake}} and {{SSBB|Sonic}} and a dedicated "random character" box had not previously been featured in the series. There is no evidence to support such a rumor, as there is no ''Super Mario RPG''-related content in ''Brawl''.<!--Don't claim there's unfinished music from SMRPG; anything you've heard on the internet is fan-made, and there's substantial evidence the track was to be from a different game altogether.-->
 
====Leon S. Kennedy's voice actor and ''Brawl''====
[[File:PaulMercierIMDB.jpg|thumb|Paul Mercier's name on the IMDB listing of ''Brawl''; his name has since been removed from the page.]]
The [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0928380/ IMDB page for ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl''] initially listed the voice actor {{Iw|wikipedia|Paul Mercier|actor}} as one of the many voice talents recruited for the game; Paul Mercier's most well-known role as a voice actor was {{s|wikipedia|Leon S. Kennedy}} of Capcom's ''{{s|wikipedia|Resident Evil 4}}''. Some fans claimed this gave evidence to Kennedy appearing in ''Brawl''. Leon's possible appearance was considered plausible by these speculators; while he appeared in M-rated games, Snake had also done so, and he had appeared more often and more recently on Nintendo consoles than Snake: Kennedy appeared once on the Nintendo 64 in ''{{s|wikipedia|Resident Evil 2}}'', two times on the GameCube for a port of ''{{s|wikipedia|Resident Evil 2}}'' and the original game ''{{s|wikipedia|Resident Evil 4}}'', once on the Wii for a remake of ''Resident Evil 4'', and once on the Game Boy Color for ''{{s|wikipedia|Resident Evil Gaiden}}''. IMDB, however, allows anyone to contribute content, causing the rumor to suffer from poor credibility. Mercier's name was later removed from the listing, and neither Leon nor Mercier appeared in the game.
 
Relating to the Mega Man and Leon S. Kennedy rumors, Sakurai said, in relation to the fourth ''Super Smash Bros.'' game, that he "can't say that it's entirely out of the realm of possibility that some Capcom character could appear in the next Smash Bros." Capcom's Yoshinori Ono also has stated he has an interest in creating a ''Nintendo vs. Capcom'' game, in a vein similar to [[wikipedia:Marvel vs. Capcom (series)|the ''Marvel vs. Capcom'' series]]. [http://vidthru.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=544:capcoms-yoshinori-ono-wants-to-make-a-nintendo-vs-capcom-fighting-game&catid=3:news&Itemid=87] Mega Man was announced at E3 2013 to be in ''Super Smash Bros. 4'', but he eventually became the only playable Capcom representative in the game.


===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.
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===
During the development of ''Brawl'', Sakurai reportedly said statements along the lines that he was making Brawl as the last game; additionally, some advertisements had the tagline of "One brawl to end them all!". This led several to believe that Brawl was the last game in the series. The rumor, however, is taken out of context; Sakurai stated he was making ''Brawl'' '''like''' it was the last game, not that it '''was''' the last game. Additionally, Sakurai said that ''Melee'' would have been the last game 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, as well as lazy developing. 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 various animated GIFs of CPUs responding to aerial attacks; it was ultimately proved 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 [http://allisbrawl.com/blogpost.aspx?id=8848 an AllisBrawl blogpost] 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]], [[DACUS]]es, and other tactics.
 
Initially widely believed, advances in the hacking scene for ''Brawl'' ultimately disproved 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 radically 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.
*Among ''[[Project M]]'s'' changes to ''Brawl's'' engine included revamping the AI to take advantage of tactics newly-introduced for the mod; disassembly of the game's AI, however, 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.


==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 READD 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===
===Lucina hoax===
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''.
[[File:LucinaRumor.jpg|150px|thumb|left|{{SSB4|Mario}} and Lucina appear to fight on the Great Sea.]]
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]].


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 (series)|''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'').
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.


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. Little Mac and Shulk 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]].
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.


===Gematsu "leaks"===
===Palutena hoax===
{{main|Gematsu leaks}}
[[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.
[[File:PalutenaHoaxModels.png|99px|thumb|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''.


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>
===Chunky Kong hoax===
[[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  [[Media:ChunkyKongHoax1.png|jokingly]] [[Media:ChunkyKongHoax2.png|compared]] to {{s|wikipedia|Bigfoot}}, a famous North American {{s|wikipedia|cryptid}}.


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 characters, [[Chrom]], was disconfirmed as playable in the July 14th reveal trailer, while {{SSB4|Robin}} and {{SSB4|Lucina}} were revealed playable, two characters never implicated by the leaker.
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.


===Lucina rumor===
===Rayman DLC hoax===
[[File:LucinaRumor.jpg|150px|thumb|left|{{SSB4|Mario}} and Lucina appear to fight on the Great Sea.]]
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.
An [http://allisbrawl.com/blogpost.aspx?id=151886 AllIsBrawl post] made early on the 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.


This image, while initially appearing to be legitimate, was actually compiled using a variety of 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]], this was the first known rumor 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.
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.


{{SSB4|Lucina}} was confirmed to be a playable character on July 14, 2014, over one year after the faked image was first posted.
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.


===Ness and Jigglypuff rumor=== 
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.
{{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.
<gallery>
RaymanAndMewtwoLeak.png|The character selection screen.
RaymanCharacterPortrait.png|The in-game portrait.
RaymanLeakUnlockScreen.jpg|The unlock splash art.
LeakedSSBWiiUMenuUpdate.png|The updated menu, notice "Shop" to the right of the 3DS option.
RaymanLeak3DS.jpg|The 3DS version with the same additions.
</gallery>


===Palutena rumor===
===Shovel Knight rumor===
[[File:Smash.4 - Palutena Rumor.png|150px|thumb|left|The purported images of Palutena.]]
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.


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.  
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>
[[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''.


===Raiden "leak"===
Eventually, [[Shovel Knight]] made it in ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', but as an Assist Trophy.
In early April 2014, [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0486047/ Reuben Langdon], a voice actor known for voicing {{s|wikipedia|Ken Masters}} in the ''{{S|wikipedia|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]], 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}}
==Rumors about ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''==
<!-- 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.-->


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.  
===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.


Ultimately the rumor was disconfirmed when the Japanese version of {{for3ds}} came out. 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''.
===Dante rumor===
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].


===Chunky Kong Assist Trophy===
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:ChunkyKongHoax.jpg|thumb|right|"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}}.]]
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.
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 meme 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  
[http://i.imgur.com/oCrdPdO.png jokingly] [http://i.imgur.com/COxcJpH.png compared] to {{s|wikipedia|Bigfoot}}, a famous North American {{s|wikipedia|cryptid}}.


After [[Comic-Con 2014]] came to pass, 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 having been a false report all along, whether from people intentionally making false information up, or people genuinely mistaking something within the game as Chunky Kong. Ultimately, the rumor was proven false after both the Japanese release of {{for3ds}} and the North American release of {{forwiiu}}, and later on, the person who originally 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 making it up], to see how many people would parrot a seemingly outlandish claim, and to put out a false piece of information to catch fake "leaks".
On June 28, 2021, Dante was announced as a Mii Swordfighter costume, which was released alongside Challenger Pack 10 the following day.


===Rayman "leak"===
==="The Grinch leak"===
On August 1, 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:
[[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}} 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.


{{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}}
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.


This led to new speculation that Rayman was in ''Smash 4'' as a playable character, rather than just the [[:File:Rayman Trophy Twitter.jpg|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.
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>


===Tower of Smash "leak"===
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.
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''.
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>


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.
===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 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.


The leak was proven false by an [http://www.smashbros.com/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. 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 29 new stages and 17 past stages appear in the Wii U version, six of which need to be unlocked.
===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.


===Rayman DLC "leak"===
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''.
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 CSS 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 CSS being highlighted was posted onto YouTube, but it was later taken down by the uploader. Mewtwo can also be seen above Rayman on the CSS. Many people were led into believing it since the images and the video were seemingly error free, were of reasonably high quality, and had renders not seen in any official material. A similarly-updated CSS from the 3DS version also surfaced. This rumor also lined up with another [[#Rayman "leak"|rumor]] with similar information.  


It was later deconfirmed the next day in a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaoB7lnOiXM YouTube video showing the fabrication] by the user Artsy Omni who reveled that he did it as a promotional stunt for his new series "Smashified". Artsy Omni was also the author of another [http://hextupleyoodot.deviantart.com/art/Klonoa-for-Smash-459604523 high quality fake] of [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/69400428 Klonoa being a playable character] which was quickly debunked because of errors in the Japanese texts. He would later apologize for leaks and as a result continued his series featuring characters such as Shovel Knight and Banjo.
===''Doom''/''Super Mario RPG'' Mii Costume rumor===
[[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.


A DLC shop for the game, however, was added in a future update.
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.
<gallery>
RaymanAndMewtwoLeak.png|The character selection screen.
RaymanCharacterPortrait.png|The in-game portrait.
RaymanLeakUnlockScreen.jpg|The unlock splash art.
LeakedSSBWiiUMenuUpdate.png|The updated menu, notice "Shop" to the right of the 3DS option.
RaymanLeak3DS.jpg|The 3DS version with the same additions.
</gallery>


===Roy and Ryu data===
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.
On April 15th, 2015, upon the release of [[List of updates (SSB4-3DS)|version 1.0.6]] for {{for3ds}}, Reddit user shinyquagsire23 [http://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/32nymz/smash_update_106_decrypted_first_observations/ reported] discovering [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLmqyoWhwmE files] added in the patch which seemingly implicate unannounced DLC fighters. These include, among other things, a victory fanfare "snd_bgm_Z83_F_Roy_3DS" for [[Roy]], which is a duplicate of the existing ''Fire Emblem'' [[victory theme]], suggesting he will also return as DLC in the same way [[Mewtwo]] did. In addition, the victory fanfare "snd_bgm_Z81_F_Ryu_3DS" and "snd_bgm_SF01_SF2_Ryu_3DS" are apparently named in reference to {{iw|wikipedia|Ryu|Street Fighter}} from [[Capcom]]'s famous ''{{s|wikipedia|Street Fighter}}'' series of fighting games; the files are claimed to contain the the victory theme and Ryu's theme, respectively, from ''{{s|wikipedia|Street Fighter II}}''. The files' existence was corroborated the same day in a [https://twitter.com/CuttingRoomWiki/status/588467223833882627 tweet] by the official Twitter of [https://tcrf.net/The_Cutting_Room_Floor The Cutting Room Floor], a wiki that specializes in unused video game content.


The same post also claims to have discovered music files, one of which is the remix used for the {{SSB|Dream Land}} stage in ''Super Smash Bros.'' and ''Super Smash Bros. Melee''; a second ''Kirby'' theme, the Forest Stage theme from ''Kirby Air Ride'', was also listed. The presence of the Dream Land remix and another forest-themed track would seem to suggest the possibility of that stage being future DLC as well. A piece of corroborating evidence for this is also found in {{b|Classic Mode|SSB4-3DS}} following the 1.0.6 update, as ''Kirby'' characters will sometimes be fought on {{SSB4|Battlefield}} instead of the existing {{SSB4|Dream Land}} stage, with Battlefield presumably being used as an error handler for an expected but not present ''Kirby'' stage.
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.


Four days later, following the discovery of these files, shinyquagsire23 reported finding [http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2015/apr/19/5-new-potential-character-slots-found-super-smash-bros-3ds-files-more-stage-slots-also-discovered/ more hidden files] in the game. [http://www.eventhubs.com/images/2015/apr/19/5-new-character-slots-found-super-smash-bros-3ds-files-more-stage-slots-also-discovered/ An image] of the character data was released; five unused character slots after Mewtwo are named "Mario", presumably as a placeholder for additional DLC characters. Additionally, shinyquagsire23 reported discovering changes to stage data table. The number of inaccessible stage slots had, according to the article, increased from 4 to 14; this includes the slots for omega forms, meaning there is space for up to 7 more stages and their omegas. The discovery of these files suggests there are more stages planned for DLC beyond Dream Land. It also seems one of the slots may be reserved for a Kirby character due to the data associated.
===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].


While multiple sources have confirmed the data is indeed present in the update, it has not yet been confirmed to represent actual DLC.
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.


==Rumors about future games==
This rumor was eventually disconfirmed after the confirmation of {{SSBU|Sora}} as the last fighter for ''Ultimate''.
In April 2014, [[Bandai Namco]] supposedly posted a recruitment advertisement on a Japanese career job opportunity website. The recruitment page consisted of a listing for programmers for ''Super Smash Bros. 6'', which is expected to be released in 2015 for both the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. The page noted there were 120 game developers working on the project at the time, and that the Bandai Namco expected that number to increase to 200. However, shortly after its publication, the page was taken down. It is considered fake by several fans, due to there not having been even a fifth game yet and that production on ''SSB4'' hadn't been finished as of September 2014, according to Sakurai, as well as the fact that most ''Smash Bros.'' games are released several years apart and for different consoles. However, as Sakurai once stated that he considered {{for3ds}} the fourth game and {{forwiiu}} the fifth, due to large differences, it is possible that this is what Namco referred to with ''Super Smash Bros. 6''. Sakurai has mentioned multiple times since that there are currently no plans for a fifth/sixth ''Super Smash Bros.'' game, and that the team is currently focusing on developing [[Downloadable content|additional content]] for ''Super Smash Bros. 4'' and not currently working on any projects.


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


==External links==
==External links==
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*[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 15:02, 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.

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