List of regional version differences (SSB)

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There are many differences between the Japanese and North American releases of Super Smash Bros., which are listed on this page. The regional differences are much more significant than in Melee or Brawl, often resulting in considerable differences in matchups between characters.

JPN to NTSC changes

Gameplay

• The distance traveled by Smash DI is 40% longer, allowing the defender to get out of combos much easier and making it so multi-hitting attacks are less reliable.
• All attacks have 1 extra freeze frame.
• The momentum slide has been removed for all characters.

Aesthetics

• Beam Sword given an altered sound to sound less like a lightsaber, presumably to prevent copyright infringement.
• Vs. Match changed from "Battle Royal" to "Free-for-all."
• Title screen changed from 'Dairantou Smash Brothers' to "Super Smash Bros." and has a brighter logo.
• Completely different sound effects for attacks landing on characters. The Japanese version has more violent hitting sounds, while the NTSC/PAL has pinball-like hitting sounds.
  • The narrator has a few re-recorded lines in the Western version; samples such as "Fox", "Board The Platforms", and "Break the Targets" are spoken bolder and clearer. The re-recorded samples have a slightly different echo effect than the Japanese originals.
• Stage Select screen has a rough English translation for stage names placed over the series icon in the Japanese version, this was removed in NTSC version.
• The sign on the side of the Silph Co. headquarters building in Saffron City reads "Silph" in the US version as opposed to the Japanese version's "Silf".

Captain Falcon

• Captain Falcon dashes slightly faster (70 → 75).
• Keeps less horizontal momentum from jumps.
• Lower jumps due to reduced jump power (from 25 → 24 for first jump and from 0.95 → 0.9 for double jump).
• Higher falling speed (60 → 66).
• Forward tilt deals 1% less damage.
• Falcon Dive covers less distance.

Donkey Kong

• Marginally heavier (0.84 → 0.83).
• UpB has more vertical lift (676.32 → 809.72).

Fox

• Down tilt deals 2% more damage.
• Down smash has a horizontal knockback angle instead of a vertical knockback angle, making it worse for combos but better at edge guarding.
• Blaster deals 1% more damage and has less knockback.
• Fire Fox deals 3% more damage and has a vertical knockback angle.
• Fire Fox no longer has invincibility frames.
• Reflector deals less knockback and at a less downward angle making shine spikes much harder.
• Reflector has a different projectile damage multiplier.

Jigglypuff

• Down smash has more range on both sides.
• Rest does 6% more damage with significantly increased knockback.

Kirby

• About 3% smaller (0.94 → 0.91).
• Up smash and down smash both deal 2% less damage.
• Up air deals 2% less damage on the clean hit and 1% less on the middle hit.
• Forward throw has a more diagonal angle removing most of its vertical KO ability.
• Final Cutter covers less distance which in combination with the Final Cutter allowed Kirby to move large distances while using the move grounded.
• Stone deals 2% less damage.
• Rolls are shorter.

Link

• Sword marginally shortened.
• Link walks slightly slower (0.4 → 0.37).
• Shorter jumps and recovery due to higher gravity (3.2 → 3.4).
• Slightly larger shield (260 like Mario → 280 like Fox).
• Up tilt deals 5% less damage, is much more punishable after shielding, and has a more sideways knockback removing its ability to combo into itself at low percents for easy combos.
• Up smash deals 2% less damage (total).
• Neutral air has more knockback and a more diagonal angle.
• Forward air deals 1% less damage in spots.
• Back air's first hit strikes 1 frame slower; second hit has a more diagonal angle.
• Down air deals 2% less damage.
• Boomerang covers less distance and only causes knockback past 100%, removing most of its usefulness in combos
• Spin Attack does 1% less damage in spots and covers less distance in the air.
• Bombs deal 1 less damage when thrown down and 2 less when thrown any other way.
• Bombs has more knockback at any percent which makes comboing easier.

Luigi

• Luigi is bigger (1.0x → 1.12x).
• Luigi's head hurtbox dimensions are marginally smaller ({155,200,150} → {155,160,150}).
• Air Speed is reduced (26.0 → 22.5).
• Rolls travel farther.
• Forward Throw does more damage (12% → 16%) but less base knockback (80 → 70).
• Back Throw does less damage (16% → 12%) but has more base knockback (70 → 80).
• Fireballs has less base knockback (22 → 10), less knockback growth (50 → 25), and travels a shorter distance.
• Fire Jump Punch's Grounded Sweetspot has a different angle (80 → 90), less bass knockback (100 → 90), but more knockback growth (78 → 80).
• Aerial Fire Jump Punch's sweetspot deals more damage (24% → 25%) and has more knockback growth (78 → 80).
• Aerial Fire Jump Punch's sourspot deals less damage (2% → 1%).

Mario

• Mario is bigger (1.0x → 1.12x).
• Mario's head hurtbox dimensions are marginally smaller ({148,160,138} → {148,140,138}).
• Rolls travel farther.
• Fireballs do more damage (6% → 7%).
• Fireballs have less base knockback (22 → 10), less knockback growth (50 → 25), and travel a shorter distance.
• Super Jump Punch covers more distance.

Ness

• Up tilt has more knockback but deals 1% less damage.
• All smash attacks deal 2% less damage.
• Up air deals 2% less damage.
• PK Fire deals 9% more damage.
• PK Fire travels a shorter distance.
• PK Thunder 2 deals 5% less damage, lasts for less time, and has more landing lag.

Pikachu

• Dash attack has more knockback.
• Forward smash has more range.
• Thunder Jolt covers less distance.

Samus

• Up smash hits twice while grounded instead of once.
• Screw Attack has 3 invincibility frames at the startup instead of 11.

Yoshi

• Faster air speed (40 → 44).
• Slightly smaller jumps due to higher gravity (2.7 → 2.8).
• Higher falling speed (55 → 58).
• Down smash does 1% more damage.
• Yoshi's double-jump armor is slightly weaker.

NTSC to PAL (AUS) changes

General

• Kirby's Fun Pak referred to as Kirby's FAN PAK ('FAN' being a typo)
• Star Fox referred to as STARWING
• Star Fox 64 referred to as LYLATWARS

Physics Engine/Technical Play

• Jigglypuff's Rest has a much smaller hitbox (more similar to Melee)
• Teleports go a longer distance
• Yoshi has less lag when not Z-Canceling moves such as F-air.
• Link has a slower horizontal air speed which in turn:
  • Makes his Up-B recovery slightly worse
  • Makes his F-air noticeably harder to connect with
• Link's F-smash hits much harder; dealing 4% more DMG than before: 20% (Clean Hit)/12% (Late Hit) -> 24%/16%
  • This makes this move, the strongest Smash Attack in the game.
  • Is now able to KO opponents ~15% earlier than normal.
• Link's Midair Jump Multiplier was given a very slight decrease. (0.9 → 0.88)
• Link's Weight gets a major increase. (0.96 → 0.9)
  • In Later Smash games' terms: 108 → 122
• Samus's Horizontal Air Speed gets a slight reduction: (28 → 26)
  • Making her recovery slightly worse.
• Mario's D-tilt has been given an animation fix.
  • Making his attack leg to no longer clip through a sloped floor.
  • Makes this move slightly less useful for edge-guarding.
  • Gives this move slightly more range.

PAL (AUS) to PAL (EUR) changes

General

• The language can be set to English, French, or German.
• In the European version of the game, when set to the German language, the German announcer does not have separate voice clips for "Captain Falcon" or "Team Battle".

Physics Engine/Technical Play

• Link has a faster horizontal air speed which in turn:
  • Makes his Up-B recovery slightly better
  • Makes his F-air noticeably easier to connect with

Stage names

English	French	German
Peach's Castle	Château de Peach	Toadstools Schloß
Congo Jungle	Jungle du Congo	Tiefster Kongo
Hyrule Castle	Château d'Hyrule	Schloß Hyrule
Planet Zebes	Planète Zebes	Planet Zebes
Yoshi's Island	Île Yoshi	Yoshi-Insel
Dream Land	Pays des Rêves	Dream Land
Sector Z	Secteur Z	Sektor Z
Saffron City	Safrania	Saffronia City
Mushroom Kingdom	Royaume Champignon	Donut-Ebene

See also

• List of regional version differences (SSBM)
• List of regional version differences (SSBB)
• List of regional version differences (SSB4)

References

• SmashBoards SSB64 main thread
• SSB64 PAL vs NTSC thread