Erase Data

Erase Data, or Backup Clear in Super Smash Bros., is an option appearing in three of the four installments of the Super Smash Bros. games. It allows the player to erase specific data in the game, such as high scores, trophies, and characters. In all three appearances, the option to erase singular categories of data is available, alongside an "Erase All" ("ALL Data Clear" in Smash 64) option.

Once the player erases data, there is no way to recover it. As such, Super Smash Bros. Melee advises players to save a copy of game data onto a separate memory card before erasing data. This is not possible in Smash 64 or Super Smash Bros. Brawl, as the game data is directly saved into the game cartridge for Smash 64 and the game data cannot be copied from one Wii to another or to an SD Card in Brawl.

Neither version of Super Smash Bros. 4 allows the player to erase any specific data in the game. Super Smash Bros. 4 is the first installment in the series that does not have an "Erase Data" in Options; so the player can't erase any specific data. Both versions allow the player to erase only all of it. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, players can erase all data by holding A, B, X, and Y on startup. It asks them three times if they are sure they want to lose it (just like in Brawl for "Erase All"); and say "Yes" three times. However, in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, this version of Super Smash Bros. 4 (unlike Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS), has no such built-in application. Players in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U instead can erase all data by erasing the game's data file in "Data Management" under their Wii U's "System Settings".

Gallery

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  The Backup Clear option in Super Smash Bros.

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  The Erase Data menu in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

• SSBB Erase Data.JPG

  The Erase Data menu in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Trivia

• Brawl is the only game where the "Erase Data" menu does not offer an "Erase Hidden Characters" and "Erase Hidden Stages" option. This is because it is due to a special stipulation; which is about the Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary method of unlocking the unlockable characters in Brawl. That is why it does not offer an "Erase Hidden Characters" and "Erase Hidden Stages" option.
• If the player chooses to erase all data in Brawl (and Super Smash Bros. for 3DS), the game asks the player three times if they are sure they want to lose that data. In Brawl, the first input plays a siren, the second plays a sped-up version of the siren, and the third and final input plays an alarm similar to Melee's "challenger approaching" theme. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, like in Brawl (Brawl for "Erase All"), it similarly presents three prompts. However, this only has the siren (for the first prompt) and sped-up siren on the second and third prompts.