Unused content (SSBM)
The following are beta elements of Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Considered characters
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- Balloon Fighter - In the Ice Climbers's Japanese Melee character page, Sakurai considered Balloon Fighter for the Ice Climbers spot.
- Urban Champion - Mentioned in the Ice Climbers's Japanese Melee character page.
- Bubbles - Mentioned in the Ice Climbers's Japanese Melee character page.
- Excitebike - Mentioned in the Ice Climbers's Japanese Melee character page.
- Takamaru - Sakurai stated that Takamaru’s chances of appearing in Smash 2 were low.
- Mach Rider - Sakurai asked by a fan what character he would like to see in Melee, and Mach Rider was the response he gave. In an earlier response, he say that his generation turns to Mach Rider or Takamaru.
- Ayumi Tachibana - She was confirmed to have been considered for Melee. Sakurai decided not to include her, as she lacked familiarity abroad.
- Banjo and Kazooie’s - In a e-mail response, Sakurai stated that it was difficult to include a character from Rare for various reasons.
- James Bond - Can’t have realistic guns in the game. Can’t use the actor’s likeness. Since the game is originally based on a movie, the copyright won’t go through. Lastly, it’s owned by Rare, according to Sakurai.
Planned characters
- Snake - During Melee’s development, Kojima asked Sakurai if Solid Snake could be in the game, Melee was pretty far into development adding Snake was impossible.
- Sonic - Former head of Sonic Team states Sonic was very close to happening, but because of time constraints, it was impossible.
- Lucas Lucas was planned for inclusion in Melee. However, due to Mother 3's delay, Ness was brought back.
- Wario - Wario was the 3rd most popular character on the Smash 2 ballots and on japan Melee site, Sakurai stated that if he had the time to add one more character, he would have added Wario.
Beta stage design
The game initially only had 10 starter stages: Princess Peach's Castle, Kongo Jungle, Great Bay, Brinstar, Yoshi's Story, Fountain of Dreams, Corneria, Pokémon Stadium, Mute City, and Onett,[1] one for each universe of the default characters, except Ice Climbers. Stage placement was also different, with Brinstar being on the top row and Corneria being in the middle; furthermore, there were considerably more "?" boxes for secret stages. Venusaur, along with other Pokemon, were originally going to appear on Pokemon Stadium.
Playable Stages
Differences between stages are also common; Temple had an elevator on the right side of the stage that does not appear in the final game. Additionally, mysterious brown platforms appear throughout the stage; they don't appear in the final version, though they can be seen in the "Special Movie" video found in the game's Data menu.
In the Great Bay, the laboratory was an actual part of the stage, and players could standing on and walk inside; in the final version, the laboratory is now a part of the background. The platform at the right of the stage initially only had three pillars; the final versions of the game feature five pillars. Additionally, There is a pot not present in the final release, seeing during debut gameplay.
Yoshi's Story, Yoshi's Island, and Mushroom Kingdom had different designs altogether[2]. Yoshi's Story had a design where the rightmost stage part was a plateau followed by a curved path up to another plateau and a walkoff blastzone. It also had various blue platforms that might have been moving due to their absence in most footage. Yoshi's Island was larger and had more blocks, including Jump Blocks which were absent entirely in the final stage. Mushroom Kingdom looked more similar to the Mushroom Kingdom of the previous game and appears to have included a pipe that could be entered like in 64.
Fountain of Dreams was simpler than its final appearance, with only two nonmoving platforms, similar to Pokémon Stadium's normal form.
Onett's basic appearance was identical to the final game, but the music was different; while the identical track ("Bein' Friends" from Mother 1) played, it had a considerably different arrangement. Additionally, the stage initially was called "Eagle Land: Onett" instead of "Eagleland: Onett". Fourside also only had ordinary black and white buildings, rather than the buildings in the final game, which have multi-coloured windows.
Pokémon Stadium also underwent multiple changes; the earliest screenshots show it with a completely blank screen, though some say that these images were taken before the screen was fully programmed. Later screenshots show different element icons in the background screen, which resembled the icons of the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
A different Rainbow Cruise stage has also been observed, with considerably more clouds, a greyer sky, and a different ship design; no gameplay footage, however, has been located of the stage.
An early version of what appears to be Jungle Japes also was observed; the only pictorial evidence of it, however, does not give any information on how it might've been different, save for some grey textures on the floor, as well as a background that looks similar to the finished stage.
The acid on Brinstar seems to have dealt much more knockback, KOing Donkey Kong at 114%. Additionally the bottom blast zone seemed to be much closer, and the acid could be visible closer to the platform before blocking the blast zone.
Additionally, footage shows the Ice Climbers and Samus appearing to be fighting in what looks like the Mushroom Kingdom. The stage is normally not accessible in the final game; additionally, this version has a darker coloured path, a fence that doesn't appear in the final game, and considerably fewer trees. Of note is that this area briefly appears in an early opening (see below), and a slightly altered version can be seen in the final product's opening; Kirby can briefly be seen walking around in the area.
The first stage of the Adventure Mode, Mushroom Kingdom, also looked different; textures on platforms and rocks in the ground are different, and there are considerably more trees along the path.
Non-playable Stages
Through an Action Replay, multiple other early stages can be found, leftover from testing. These stages can be accessed by the leftover debug menu.
One of the stages is TEST, a large, gray stage, with the background appearing to be some kind of pub. The music is the same as used on Fox and Falco's stage, Corneria. The stage's purpose is outlined by its name. The background image is also a common image to use in OpenGL testing.
In addition to TEST, there exist four other stages: AKANEIA, IceTop, 10-2 and DUMMY. All four will immediately crash the game if they are accessed normally, though other hacks allow some stages to be used. AKANEIA was likely a Fire Emblem themed stage, as it shares the name with the primary setting of the first Fire Emblem game, which also starred Marth. It was going to have machines that threw stones at the castle, and have appearances from a dragon and a sorcerer. However, even with hacking, no one has successfully accessed the stage. DUMMY, when hacked into, is simply a black background with a lone invisible platform. This platform can become visible through the Debug Menu. IceTop and 10-2 are both simply Icicle Mountain, albeit without the music; IceTop's use remains unknown, but 10-2 was to act as another Ice Climbers stage in the Adventure Mode, as 10-1 is the internal name for the Ice Climbers stage in the Adventure Mode.
Finally, Sheik seemingly was originally planned to have her own Target Test stage, separate from that of Zelda; the remnants of the stage, however, consist only of a single dark grey platform and three targets.
According to Sakurai, in a reader response Sprout Tower was considered for a stage at the debut of development
An older Stage Select screen.
Two platforms from the Temple stage that appear in the Special Movie but not during gameplay.
Peach standing on the unknown platform from an early version of Temple.
Ness walking out of what is now a part of the Great Bay background.
The remnants of Great Bay's laboratory.
There are only three pillars in this version of Great Bay.
An early version of Yoshi's Story.
Yoshi's Island with 5 blocks, much smaller in comparison with the rest of the stage.
Donkey Kong stands on the 5 blocks.
Mushroom Kingdom's early design.
Early versions of Fourside had more generic, black-and-white buildings in the background.
Early versions of Pokémon Stadium had blank screens.
The TCG's Fire icon appears in the background of Pokémon Stadium.
An early layout of Rainbow Cruise with notable differences from the final version.
A closer view of the early Rainbow Cruise ship.
An early layout of Fountain of Dreams that is missing the top platform.
A full view of the early Yoshi's Island layout.
A close-up of the Jump Blocks on Yoshi's Island that were presumably originally intended to be the stage hazard.
An early layout of Green Greens. The color scheme was darker, the thin platforms were uneven, and the main platforms and star blocks were made of stone.
Mario and Sheik on the early Green Greens.
Thin platforms off of the side of the early Yoshi's Story.
Additional platforms on the early Yoshi's Story. Curiously, they do not appear on most other shots of the stage, indicating that they may have been moving platforms.
Sheik standing on what is an early version of Jungle Japes.
The Ice Climbers and Samus both on what appears to be the Adventure Mushroom Kingdom, which is not possible in the final version.
Yoshi traverses an early Mushroom Kingdom in the Adventure Mode.
A panorama of the test level.
- BetaSheikTargetTest.png
Sheik's Target Test stage as access from the debug menu.
Sukapon item
For a short time, the bonus information related to Sukapon was accidentally posted on Melee's website. Sakurai mentioned that Sukapon from Joy Mech Fight was cut because of “adult matters”, and that players would’ve been able to ride Sukapon.
While the overall menu system remains relatively unchanged from the final version, differences still exist. In the Main Menu (originally called the "Top Menu"), the Trophies, Options, and Data menus were all blanked out with "?"s. In the Multiplayer menu, Special Melee is also blanked out; furthermore, the panel to the right of the menus, which shows the next screen, looked considerably different.
The Lottery had a radically different design; the actual machine looks considerably larger and had more details behind it, such as a model ship, a roulette wheel and a craps table.
The character select screen also underwent many differences during development. The earliest character select screens did not have characters arranged in a rectangle, instead being stacked and "leaning" to one side. While the amount varies in different images, in all cases, the number of selectable character initially began at a number below fourteen. Additionally, similar to the original's beta character select screen, the words "Battle Royal" were in the corner instead of "Melee". Finally, the "Press Start" banner on the "Ready to Fight!" band was not located on the banner; it was instead just above the character boxes.
Later versions, closer to the release of the final product, had character select screens looking almost identical to the final product. One image on the Japanese website, however, shows Zelda's character portrait covered by a "?" mark, like other secret characters. As Sheik's playability was revealed before Zelda's, the move is speculated to avoid spoiling the surprise of Zelda's playability.
Finally, All-Star Mode was intended to have intro screens, almost identical to the ones found in Classic. They were ultimately unused, due to the mode using the All-Star Rest Area in transitions between fights, though they are still fully accessible in the Debug Menu.[3] The earliest Classic Mode intros also looked radically different from the final version's; these versions featured no map or background, and the artwork used for the characters differ considerably from the final versions.
A early menu screen, with blanked out selections, as well as a different name ("Top Menu")
A early menu screen, with blanked out selections and a different panel to the right.
A early version of the Lottery interface.
One of the first character select screens in Melee, with different tokens and a different layout.
Another older character-selection screen. Note that Kirby, Peach, Zelda, and Ice Climbers are missing.
While finalized in design, Zelda's portrait is missing in this picture from the Japan website.
An intro screen intended for use in All-Star mode.
A early Classic Mode screen.
Beta trophies
Early screenshots showed the Motion-Sensor Bomb to be much different; these screenshots actually showed it to be a Proximity Mine from Perfect Dark rather than the Motion-Sensor Bomb from "TOP SECRET" (actually GoldenEye 007) that appeared in the final game. A screenshot of this Proximity Mine's trophy also shows that the text is almost identical to the final product, save for a few references to the Carrington Institute, an area in Perfect Dark. Why the Perfect Dark Proximity Mine was changed to a GoldenEye 007 Motion-Sensor Bomb is unknown, as the Cloaking Device from Perfect Dark appears in all versions of Melee.
Early versions of the game also had different Topi trophies. While the final version had a vaguely Yeti-looking creature, it originally was a seal-like creature. The seal is believed to have been removed due to the controversial subject of seal clubbing; while a highly volatile topic in North America and Europe, the issue is effectively nonexistent in Japan.
Fire Emblem trophies were planned for the game, but they were too complex.
Rare Ltd. was originally going to have trophies in Melee, but they were dropped.
- MeleeMotionSensorBeta.png
Super Smash Bros. Melee's original Motion-Sensor Bomb's trophy. The design is identical in the Japanese version of the game; note how the bottom also says "Perfect Dark" instead of "TOP SECRET".
- Topitrophy beta.jpg
The original Topi trophy.
Beta gameplay
In Melee's instruction booklet, an image can be seen for Stamina mode's description. In the image, all four characters have over 150 HP of Stamina, which cannot occur in normal gameplay; players in a four-player match always start with 150 HP, and this value cannot be edited without the use of a hacking device.
In the gameplay and demos shown at E3 2001, it appears that the amount of hitstun received was the same as in SSB64, but the hitstun multiplier was ultimately changed from 0.52 to 0.4, possibly due to the increased falling speed of each character making recovery too difficult with such a high level of hitstun.
It is speculated that l-cancelling removed all landing lag from aerials like in 64; in all retail version it was reduced to half.
It may have been possible to up-smash out of shield without using jump-cancelling.[4]
Shields were much bigger and perhaps less susceptible to shield stabing. This gives possible explanation for why Mr. Game & Watch's shield is so small compared to his body, as the shield sizes may have been haphazardly reduced in the final months of production.
As seen and heard in the "Special Movie" included with Melee, Peach had a few voice clips appeared to be voiced by Leslie Swan instead of Jen Taylor, that were ultimately unused. In Bowser's vignette, Peach throws a vegetable at him; while doing so, she yells "Yahoo!", which does not occur in normal gameplay. At the ending clips, which show all the characters, Peach's clip features her taunting; however, instead of saying "Sweet!" as per usual gameplay, she instead says "All right!". Similarly, Mario, upon picking up a Hammer in one clip, says "Wah!" while picking it up. In the final game, all characters stay silent when they pick up the hammer. Additionally, an unused shout from Popo can be heard during the montage at the end.
In gameplay, the Pokémon Ditto was supposed to appear from Poké Balls, turning into the summoner's character and assisting them in battle. It was removed, though it is still left over in the Debug menu; when summoned, however, it simply says "Mon-mon!" after its Japanese name ("Metamon"), spins while stretching vertically, then disappears. Ditto appears in the official strategy guide for Melee. In the guide, it states that, "Ditto will Transform into the player who threw the Poke Ball, then join up with him or her for a short time."
Early screenshots, footage, and the "Special Movie" show that characters, if selected by more than one player, could use the same colour scheme; unlike Team Battle, however, there was no change in contrast. This, however, is also assumed to be a result of using Debug Mode to film the Special Movie and choosing for all characters to look identical.
In the Special Movie, it can be seen that Falcon Punch was as fast as it was in Super Smash Bros. 64 and his taunt animation isn't as smooth as it would eventually become. Pikachu is silent while charging Skull Bash. Kirby's Vulcan Jab combo doesn't feature small projectiles in front of his hands.
Electrode doesn't change colour before using self-destruct. Bowser's render, while exactly the same, was positioned more to the back, and so appears slightly smaller. Link's Bow does not glow upon being fully charged. Knocking a Goomba in the Adventure Mode causes a screen shake effect.
Spinning Kong could spin diagonally downwards, which is impossible in the final build.
Fox's blaster was slightly different. The first shot of a blaster could do hitstun, like in the prequel. However the blaster could be fired at the same rate as in retail Melee and any succeeding shots fired would do no hitstun. Fox's up-b seemed to be slightly shorter. The shine seemed to be able to be landcancelled, like in Smash 64,[5] but it is unknown if this means that it could not be jump cancelled as well.
Early screenshots also show that damage percentages initially did not darken the more damage a combatant had taken; in the final build, the numbers gradually blacken as the character's damage goes up.
Ditto's appearance in Melee, before disappearing.
An image in the manual that shows HP values over 150 HP, which cannot occur normally.
Here all four players have the same color scheme, impossible in the final version sans glitches.
- Beta Falcon Punch- 2015-04-27 14-47.gif
Falcon Punch with its original speed from Smash 64, as seen in the special movie.
Unused bonuses
Some Bonuses were left out of the final game, though they can be accessed with an Action Replay. The reason for their removal is unknown. Since they are unused, these are not required to get the Diskun trophy.
| Name | Points Given | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Barrel Blast KO | x300 | Used a Barrel to KO someone. |
| Crash & Burn | -500 | All Meteor Attacks Missed. |
| Deflector | 1000 | Unknown (presumed to be something to do with reflecting attacks) |
| Green Shell Shooter | x800 | Caused damage twice or more with a Green Shell. |
| Poolshark | x300 | Threw one enemy into another. |
| Red Shell Shooter | x400 | Caused damage 3 or more times with a Red Shell. |
| Ricochet Rifler | x800 | Deflected shot hit an enemy. |
Other beta elements
The opening sequence of Melee was slightly different; the middle section which shows actual gameplay has different animations and characters. It can be viewed on Nintendo's official site.
Captain Falcon's red costume, which adds a "Blood Falcon" emblem on his back, was originally planned to say "Hell Hawk", the Japanese name of Blood Falcon's vehicle.
The original boxart for Melee did not feature Link or Pikachu, nor did it feature Mario dodging Bowser's attack; it instead featured Mario being attacked by Bowser's Fire Breath move. The locale featured also has considerably brighter lighting. This boxart, while unused for retail, did appear in some early promotional material for the game, including websites accepting orders for the game and some print advertisements and catalogues for retailers.
Captain Falcon with "Hell Hawk" emblem
- BetaBoxArtMelee.jpg
The original boxart for Melee.
