There are many differences between all releases of Super Smash Bros., which are listed on this page. The North American version in particular received a large number of changes compared to the initial Japanese version, both in terms of aesthetics and gameplay. The regional differences are much more significant than in Super Smash Bros. Melee or Super Smash Bros. Brawl, often resulting in considerable differences in matchups between characters.
Purin is referred to as Jigglypuff, its English, Spanish and Italian name. However, Purin can still be seen written on the map used as the background in 1P Game's "VS. screen."
Donkey Kong's name is abbreviated as "D. Kong" in the credits and character selection screen, but it was changed to "DK" for the international release.
"Dummy Corps" changed from "Fighting Polygon Team".
Vs. Match changed from "Battle Royal" to "Free-for-all".
The "New Comers" option in the Backup Clear section of the Option menu was changed to "Newcomers".
The name of the bonuses are slightly different:
Japan
International
Break the Target
Break the Targets
Board the Platform
Board the Platforms
Hurry to the Battle Stage
Race to the Finish
Some terms in the VS Mode player settings, Item Switch menu, and Training Mode are different:
Japan
International
MAN
HMN
COM
CPU
NOT
N/A
Slow
Speed
Nothing
None
Escape
Evade
HomerunBat
HomeRunBat
Harisen
Fan
LayGun
RayGun
BombTrooper
Bob-omb
MonsterBall
PokéBall
Near
Close-up
English translations of the original names of the stages can be seen on the stage select screen in the Japanese version, though some stages gain additional subtitles or have a different translation than those used in international versions:
Japanese Translation
Stage
IN THE SKY OF
CASTLE PEACH
Peach's Castle
SECTOR Z ABORD A GREAT FOX
Sector Z
CLASSIC MUSHROOM KINGDOM
Mushroom Kingdom
CASTLE OF HYRULE
Hyrule Castle
As a programming oversight, the first line in Peach's Castle Japanese translation is not centered.
Menus
The title screen was given more colors, and the title itself was changed too. It was titled Nintendo All-Star! Dairantou Smash Brothers (ニンテンドウオールスター! 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ), which was reduced to Super Smash Bros.. Additionally, "Inc." is "inc." in the last row of credits below the logo
The "Characters" section of the Data menu mentioned the year and month a game was released in the "Works" section, like in future games, but this was removed; also, the last bracket after the name of a game was thinner in some biographies than it was in others, though they are always thin internationally.
Additionally, Luigi's biography mentioned Super Mario USA in that section, but this was changed to Mario Kart 64.
Mario's biography mentioned Super Mario 64, but this was also changed to Mario Kart 64.
The Nintendo 64 controller shown in the screen which appears when the game starts without any controller connected is slightly darker in the Japanese version. It also uses a pink tone in shaded areas, such as the circle around the D-Pad, that was changed to gray. A small pink circle on top of the A button was removed.
They change the notice text from Japanese to English.
Japanese Translation
Notice
Captain Falcon, the sonic bounty, is now available.
You can now use Captain Falcon, collector of space race trophies.
The background used in the main menu and the screen shown after unlocking a feature was changed to reflect the title used, along with some other cosmetic changes.
The Training Mode menu does not have spacing between the letters in the meaning of the options, and the options themselves are closer to their meanings; the red arrows between the option have much less spacing. Translations of both the highlighted meaning and selected option are shown below the EXIT option.
Sounds
Narrator
Japan
International
"Nintendo All-Star Dairantou Smash Brothers"
"Super Smash Bros.!"
To accompany the changed title, the announcement is changed, obviously. It's worth noting that the sequence file used in the international versions has some silence to compensate for the shortened title while also syncing with the animation; this is not part of the sample itself, and is thus not present here.
Japan
International
"Battle Royal"
"Free-for-All!
"Dummy Corps"
"Fighting Polygon Team!"
"Hurry to the Battle Stage!"
"Race to the Finish!"
Some of the narrator announcements change depending on the version of the game. These changes were made to reflect the different names Free-for-All, Fighting Polygon Team, and Race to the Finish have.
Japan
International
"Fox"
"Fox!"
"Fox" is said less quietly.
Japan
International
"Break the Target"
"Break the Targets!"
"Board the Platform!"
"Board the Platforms!"
"Break the Targets" and "Board the Platforms" are, similarly to "Fox", said with more enthusiasm. Also, "target" and "platform" were changed to plural.
Japan
International
Crowd
Character
Japan
International
Mario
"Mario"
"Mario!"
Donkey Kong
"Donkey Kong"
"Donkey Kong!"
Link
"Link"
"Go Link!"
Samus
"Samus"
"Samus!"
Yoshi
"Yoshi"
"Yoshi
Kirby
"Kirby"
"Kirby!"
Fox
"Fox"
"Go Fox!"
Pikachu
"Pikachu"
"Pikachu!"
Luigi
"Luigi"
"Luigi!"
Captain Falcon
"Falcon"
"Falcon!"
Ness
"Ness"
"Go Ness!"
Jigglypuff
"Purin"
"Jigglypuff!"
Name changes aside, the crowd cheering noises were changed to more accurate pronunciation of the character names. Japanese uses a gairaigo system that alters several consonants and vowels in otherwise-normal English words. This can be heard in several voice clips, where erroneous vowels were originally voiced at the end of the names. To keep the length, several clips now start with "Go, (character)!".
Fox
Fox has two instances of Japanese speech which were removed in international versions; both can be heard in the Japanese version's debug sound test as FGM no. 351 and 358.
Japan
International
"出番だ！"
("My turn!")
It is unknown where this particular clip is used, as it does not appear as a taunt or a victory quote. It may actually be unused entirely.
Japan
International
"任務完了！"
("Mission complete!")
This audio piece, on the other hand, is used during one of Fox's post-match victory animations, specifically the one where he points his blaster side to side before facing the camera straight on.
Jigglypuff
Japan
International
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
9
9
10
10
11
11
12
12
13
13
14
14
15
15
Pokémon who have regionally different names, have different voices and speech as well. Because of that, all sounds used by Jigglypuff were changed. For some weird reason, its three unused sounds were changed too, and it has one extra sound for smash attacks in the Japanese version.
Jigglypuff's Pound uses an original sound effect, but it was changed to the sound used when hitting someone with a Fan.
Pokémon
Pokémon
Japan
International
Blastoise
"Kamex!"
"Blastoise!"
Chansey
"Lucky!"
"Chansey!"
Charmander
"Hitokage!"
"Charmander!"
Clefairy
"Pippi!"
"Clefairy!"
Goldeen
"Tosskinto!"
"Goldeen!"
Koffing
"Dogars!"
"Koffing!"
Snorlax
"Kabigon!" "Kabigon!"
"Snorlax!" "Snorlax!"
Venusaur
"Bana!"
"Venusaur!"
Some Pokémon who can be summoned from a PokéBall, as well as those who emerges from the door in the Silph Co. building in Saffron City have different voices due to their regionally different names, like Jigglypuff. Every other Pokémon's cry was left alone, either because they didn't actually make a noise resembling their name, because their Japanese name was the same as their English one, or because they didn't have an English anime voice yet.
Attack Sounds
Japan
International
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
The sounds for attacks that hit someone sounds like high-pitched punches and slaps. These have been changed to small explosion sounds, and deeper "punch" sounds. The sound of the Japanese version are still present in the other two versions, available in the game's system debug menu as FGM no. 142 to 147.
Japan
International
1
1
Luigi's Super Jump Punch when sweetspotted and Jigglypuff's Rest use a normal strong attack sound, but it was changed to the sound used in Ness' side smash and Home-Run Bat if they hit someone. Every Smash Bros. game after this uses the "PING!" sound in all releases.
Beam Sword
Japan
International
1
1
2
2
The Beam Sword has totally different sounds. It sounded very similar to a lightsaber from the Star Wars trilogy which were changed, probably due to copyright. The same happened in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
How to Play
In the Japanese version, the on-screen movements for the "How to Play" tutorial video are less refined than in international versions and are often performed slightly out of sync with the controls shown directly below. International versions made the gameplay sync up more smoothly with the instructions as a result.
Some of the differences in the "How to Play" tutorial video include:
Luigi does not fast-fall after jumping in the Japanese version.
Luigi fights back more in the Japanese version.
Luigi does not taunt after Mario grabs the ledge in the Japanese version.
The Fire Flower does not fall off in the Japanese version.
Luigi hits Mario by throwing the Fire Flower when they are showing off how to use items in the Japanese version.
Mario and Luigi do not face each other when they are showing off how to jump in the Japanese version.
Mario and Luigi dash sooner when they are showing off how to move in the Japanese version.
Luigi techs while Mario is showing off the power moves in the Japanese version.
Luigi does not duck before jumping in the Japanese version.
Break the Targets!
At the very top of Link's Break the Targets stage, the platform that Link can stand on with the 3 targets above was placed to be lower in the NTSC release, possibly due to Link's jump height and his up-special height being changed.
Character sizes
Mario and Luigi were made a little bigger in the international versions, though Metal Mario remained the same height.
Kirby is a little smaller in the international versions.
1P Game
In the Japanese version for Stage 1, on any difficulty settings except for Hard, Link would stand and not attack for a few seconds (excluding floor attacks) if his damage was below 21%. This was changed so that he moves and attacks immediately after the match has started.
The Japanese version only shows the opening movie after completing the mode while all other versions have congratulations screens.
Point yield
The point yield for most of the bonuses were altered between the Japanese and international versions.
Bonus
Japanese
International
Normal bonuses
(Time remaining bonus [excludes bonus stages])
(100 per second)
(50 per second)
Booby Trap
8,000
12,000
Bumper Clear
3,000
11,000
Comet Mystic
7,000
10,000
Hawk
10,000
18,000
Heartthrob
8,000
17,000
Heavy Damage
10,000
28,000
Item Strike
10,000
20,000
Item Throw
10,000
16,000
Jackpot
5,000
3,330
Judo Warrior
4,000
5,000
Last Second
10,000
8,000
Lucky 3
8,000
9,990
Mew Catch
8,000
15,000
Mystic
6,000
7,000
No Damage
10,000
15,000
No Item
5,000
1,000
No Miss
1,500
5,000
Pacifist
30,000
60,000
Pokémon Finish
8,000
11,000
Shield Breaker
5,000
8,000
Shooter
5,000
12,000
Smash Mania
3,000
3,500
Smash-less
3,000
5,000
Speedster
8,000
10,000
Star Clear
8,000
12,000
Star Finish
2,000
10,000
Trickster
8,000
11,000
Vegetarian
5,000
9,000
Stage-specific bonuses
Yoshi Rainbow
15,000
50,000
ARWING Clear
3,000
4,000
Bros. Calamity
12,000
25,000
Good Friend
5,000
8,000
True Friend
30,000
25,000
DK Defender
7,000
10,000
Kirby Ranks
12,000
25,000
Acid Clear
1,000
1,500
No Damage
10,000
15,000
Perfect
10,000
30,000
Completion bonuses
No Damage Clear
300,000
400,000
No Miss Clear
40,000
70,000
Speed Demon
60,000
80,000
Speed King
20,000
40,000
Very Easy Clear
40,000
70,000
Easy Clear
80,000
140,000
Normal Clear
120,000
210,000
Hard Clear
160,000
280,000
Very Hard Clear
200,000
350,000
Gameplay
Universal mechanics
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 frame of hitlag. The exact formula was changed from ⌊⌊⌊d/3 + 4⌋ * e⌋ * c⌋ to ⌊⌊⌊d/3 + 5⌋ * e⌋ * c⌋
The shieldstun formula has changed from d * 1.75 + 3 (rounded up) to d * 1.62 + 4 (rounded down). This essentially means that most attacks have slightly reduced shieldstun unless they deal 1%, 2%, 4% or 5%.
Beam Sword given an altered sound to sound less like a lightsaber, presumably to prevent copyright infringement.
Title screen changed from 'Dairantou Smash Brothers' to "Super Smash Bros." and has a brighter logo.
The punch and kick sound effects are completely different. The Japanese version has more violent hitting sounds, while the US/PAL versions have Bowling ball-like hitting sounds. Other hit sounds effects such as the "Slash" and Ping sound effects remain unchanged, although some moves had their hit sound effects changed.
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.
All of the crowd cheers were re-recorded to sound American and reflect the characters' American names.
Stage Select screen has a rough English translation for stage names placed over the series icon in the Japanese version, this was removed in the US 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"; in addition, the banner on the background building to the left, which contained the typo "Got a Catch 'em All!", was corrected to "Gotta Catch 'em All!".
Jigglypuff has all new voice clips due to its name change from "Purin" to "Jigglypuff".
Jigglypuff has a different blinking pattern while taunting.
Taunt has less ending lag (FAF 67 → 61).
Down smash has more range on both sides as its foot hitboxes have been repositioned to cover the space past Jigglypuff's feet rather than its legs (x offset: 100 → 200).
Rest deals more damage (14% → 20%) and knockback (20 (base), 140 (scaling) → 60/120), significantly improving its KO potential.
Rest now makes the ping sound effect when it connects rather than a heavy kick sound.
Kirby is about 3% smaller (0.94 → 0.91) This gives his attacks less range but also makes him harder to hit (granted he has not performed the bigger Kirby glitch).
Rolls are shorter (without the bigger Kirby glitch) due to Kirby's smaller size.
Neutral attack's second hit now uses a weak punch sound instead of a medium punch sound.
Neutral attack's loop hits launch opponents at a slightly lower angle (70° → 65°).
Neutral attack's loop hits have smaller hitboxes (90u → 50u) and the far hitbox has been moved closer to Kirby (x offset: 200 → 165).
Up and down smash both deal 2% less damage (18% (up)/20% (down) → 16%/18%) and have decreased base knockback (24 (up)/40 (down) → 20/30).
Up aerial deals less damage on the clean and mid hits (12% (clean)/9% (mid) → 10%/8%).
Up aerial has a smaller hitbox (150u → 105u).
Forward throw sends at a higher, more diagonal angle (45° → 70°), granting it vertical KO ability but hindering its horizontal KO potential and hindering its ability to set up edgeguards.
Forward throw has increased base knockback (80 → 100).
Forward throw has gained a collateral hit when Kirby lands.
Kirby releases opponents from forward throw later (frame 56 → 58), decreasing its ending lag.
Final Cutter covers less distance when used on the ground (without the bigger Kirby glitch) due to Kirby's smaller size.
Stone deals 2% less damage (22% → 20%) and has decreased knockback scaling (78 → 70).
Link's gravity is higher (3.2 → 3.4). While this does improve his vertical endurance and his ability to land, it also makes him more susceptible to combos and more notably, it reduces the height of his jumps and his Spin Attack, hindering his recovery.
Link's shield size is slightly larger (260 → 280).
Up tilt deals 5% less damage (15% → 10%), hindering its KO potential and significantly reducing its shieldstun, making it much less safe when shielded. It also sends opponents at a more horizontal angle (90° → 79°), removing its ability to combo into itself at low percents for easy combos.
However, this improves its combo potential at higher percents.
Up tilt has smaller hitboxes (120u/90u → 100u/80u) and the far hitbox has been moved closer to Link (z offset: 260 → 240).
Up smash's first two hits deal 1% damage (8% (hit 1)/4% (hit 2) → 7%/3%) making it deal 2% less damage overall (24% → 22%).
Down aerial deals 2% less damage (18% → 16%), and has lower base knockback (30 → 25), hindering its KO potential and reducing its shieldstun.
Down aerial's tip has a smaller hitbox (180u → 150u).
Spin Attack grants less height due to Link's higher gravity.
Bombs deal less damage when they explode (8% → 5%).
Bombs deal more damage when thrown (4% → 5%).
Bombs deal more knockback when they explode, improving their combo potential.
Luigi is bigger (1.0x → 1.12x). This improves his range but makes him easier to hit.
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 due to Luigi's larger size.
Forward Throw does more damage (12% → 16%), making it much stronger despite its reduced base knockback (80 → 70).
Back Throw does less damage (16% → 12%), hindering its KO potential despite its increased base knockback (70 → 80).
Fireballs deal less knockback (22 (base), 50 (scaling) → 10/25) and have a shorter duration (frames 16-104 → 16-94).
Fire Jump Punch's grounded sweetspot deals less knockback (100 (base), 78 (scaling) → 90/80), hindering its KO potential despite its altered angle (80° → 90°).
Aerial Fire Jump Punch's sweetspot deals more damage (24% → 25%) and has more knockback scaling (78 → 80).
Aerial Fire Jump Punch's sourspot deals less damage (2% → 1%).
Super Jump Punch covers more distance due to Luigi's larger size.
Up tilt deals less damage (8% → 7%) and has increased base knockback (70 → 80), hindering its combo potential when stale.
Up tilt's angle has been altered (96° → 100°) improving its combo potential.
Forward smash deals less damage (20% → 18%) and has decreased knockback scaling (67 → 65).
Forward smash has an increased reflection multiplier (1.5x → 1.8x).
Up smash's clean hit deals less damage (19% → 17%) and sends opponents at a less favorable angle (105° → 110°) hindering its KO potential despite its increased base knockback (0 → 20).
However, these changes improve its combo potential.
Mid and late up smash deal less damage (17% (mid)/14% (late) → 15%/13%) with the mid hit also sending opponents at a less favorable angle (90° → 78°).
Down smash deals less damage (21% → 19%).
Up aerial deals 2% less damage (17% → 15%) and has decreased knockback scaling (120 → 110), hindering its KO and shield pressuring potential.
However, these changes improve its combo potential.
Up aerial has a smaller hitbox (190u → 175u).
PK Fire deals more damage (2% (fire & pillar) → 7% (fire), 3% (pillar), 16% → 25% (total)).
PK Fire travels a shorter distance.
PK Thunder 2 deals less damage (35% → 30%) and knockback (50 (base), 100 (scaling) → 40/84).
PK Thunder 2 has a smaller hitbox (200u → 150u).
PK Thunder 2 has a shorter duration (frames 1-28 → 1-18), less invincibility (frames 1-17 → 1-9), and more landing lag (30 frames → 42).
The language can be set to English, French, or German. When set to French or German, the announcer is replaced with a French/German announcer.
When the language is set to German, the German announcer does not have separate voice clips for "Captain Falcon", "Computer Player" or "Team Battle". Instead, the English announcer voice clips are used.
When the language is set to German, the German actor does not have a separate voice clip for "Goldeen". Instead, the English actor voice clip is used.
Jigglypuff has all new voice clips when the game is set to French or German due to its name change from "Jigglypuff" to "Rondoudou" and "Pummeluff" respectively. It also has new crowd cheers to reflect the name differences.
The iQue Player release of Super Smash Bros. is based off of the NTSC-U release. As such, any changes introduced in the Australian and European PAL releases were not retained.
Aesthetics
The Nintendo 64 logo when booting up the game has been replaced by the iQue logo.
The animation for the game's title on the title screen has not properly been updated to account for the different logo. As a result, 任天堂 (lit. Nintendo) and 明星 (lit. Stars) are moved to the sides when 大乱斗 (lit. Smash Bros) pops in the middle, only to abruptly pop up above 大乱斗 when the animation ends.
The copyright information on the title screen has been updated to add a copyright for iQue as well as update the year from "1999" to "1999-2005." Additionally, the copyright text uses a different, larger font.
The Nintendo 64 controller used for the icon for 1P Mode and the Nintendo 64 console used for the icon for VS Mode have been replaced by the iQue Player controller and the iQue Player Multiplayer Box respectively.
Most of the background text has been translated into Chinese.
The "No Controller" screen has been changed to show the iQue Player controller instead of a Nintendo 64 controller. Despite this, it's impossible to see this screen under normal circumstances in the iQue release due to the console being built into the controller.
The "Works" section of the bios in the "Characters" section of the Data menu was completely removed. This is likely because many of the games referenced were not officially released in China.
On the character select screen for Training Mode, the window for the CPU character is red instead of gray.
Many of the Poké Ball Pokémon had their voices replaced with their Chinese equivalents.
In Sector Z, the Star Fox logo on the Great Fox has been translated to "星际火狐" (lit. Star Fox). This is in line with a change also done in the iQue version of Star Fox 64.
In Saffron City, the banner on the background building was changed to "抓，抓，抓！！！" (lit. Catch, Catch, Catch!!!).
The Pokémon that come out of the door on the Silph Co. building had their voices replaced with their Chinese equivalents.
The credits have three additions made to it.
TOP-SIGHT International Co., Ltd. was added under Special Thanks for "Chinese Pokémon Voices." This replaces the credit to 4Kids Productions in the NTSC-U credits.
iQue Engineering was added under a new section for Chinese Localization. Shooting their name in the credits gives the location of their headquarters in Suzhou, China.
At the very end of the credits, there are two additional lines that create the sentence "This staff credits are based on the original N64.[sic]"
With the exception of Link and Fox, the congratulations screens for every character had been changed to replace the English text with Chinese text.
Captain Falcon 
Captain Falcon keeps less horizontal momentum from a grounded jump (0.35 → 0.31).
Captain Falcon's falling speed was increased (60 → 66), improving his endurance but making him more susceptible to combos.
