Unused content (SSBU)

The following unused content is known from the development of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Characters

Considered

Alucard - In a Famitsu interview, Sakurai stated that Alucard was briefly considered as a playable character, due to a lot of players probably being most familiar with him. However, he instead chose Simon and Richter, feeling that fans would probably prefer one of the Belmonts, resulting in his Assist Trophy role and cameo roles.^[1]
Decidueye - In an interview with Nintendo Dream, Sakurai revealed that Decidueye was almost chosen to be the playable Generation VII Pokémon, but he chose Incineroar instead, possibly due to Incineroar having a more unique moveset.^[2]
Representatives from Nintendo Switch titles Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and ARMS - In an interview with Nintendo Dream, Sakurai confirms that due to the base roster being completed prior to the announcement of both games in January 2017, no fighter representatives from neither Xenoblade Chronicles 2 nor ARMS could be added in the base game, resulting in Rex, Nia, Spring Man, and Ribbon Girl becoming Mii Fighter Costumes, and Spirits (with Spring Man also being present as an assist trophy). It is currently unknown if fighters from either series will be added as DLC fighters.

^[3]

Stages

During the "Everyone is here!" segment of the E3 2018 Direct, the background of Fourside features a skyscraper with the text "Department" going down its facade. In the final release, the skyscraper is still present; however, the text is absent.
Lylat Cruise in the E3 2018 demo appears to use its stage select image from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
In Mr. Game & Watch's character trailer, he is seen climbing up a ladder in 75m. The stage appears to be identical to it's Brawl and Wii U incarnations in this trailer, but in the final release, the stage's platforms are angled differently to make the "3D" effect seem less prominent and the stage has been recolored, to better reflect it's appearance from it's game of origin.
In one screenshot, Knuckles appears as an Assist Trophy on Green Hill Zone. In the final game, this is impossible and he will only appear on the stage as a background character.
A few stages' images have differences on the stage select screen in the August 8, 2018 Nintendo Direct from the final game.
- Battlefield's image is zoomed in more in the final game.
- Spear Pillar in the Direct depicts the green hue that normally appears when Cresselia is present, but doesn't actually have any Pokémon in the image, while the final game depicts the image with the purple hue with Palkia in the background.
- Reset Bomb Forest's image is zoomed out more in the final game.
- The positon of the clouds in Onett's image are in slightly different spots in the final game.
- A few elements of the Princess Peach's Castle and Town and City stages are in slightly different spots in the final game.

Gameplay

In the E3 demo, Bayonetta was able to use After Burner Kick, Downwards After Burner Kick, and then gain another After Burner Kick before landing. [1]
The Classic Mode route files for Pokémon Trainer and Mega Man each contain data specifying a stamina HP value of 120, but have stamina mode disabled. This implies that these fighters' Classic Mode routes may have once been planned to use stamina battles. In the final game, Ryu is the only fighter whose route uses stamina battles, with a HP value of 150.
An unused model for Donkey Kong's bongo drums can be found in the game files. Donkey Kong used bongo drums in Konga Beat, his Final Smash in Brawl and Smash 4, and due to its updated design and textures (despite not being used), it can be assumed that Konga Beat was meant to return for Ultimate. However, Donkey Kong has a new Final Smash in Ultimate, that being Jungle Rush.
In Pac-Man’s character trailer, he is shown able to actually attack the water from his Fire Hydrant, making it completely disappear. However, this is impossible to do in the final game, as the water functions exactly how it did in the previous game.
- Also in his character trailer, it is shown that attacking the trampoline would turn it green, and it would also put enemies into a helpless state when they jumped on it (regardless of the current level). Both of these changes were removed in the final game.
In an interview, Sakurai stated that he had plans to lower the run speed for a campy playstyle. However, it was eventually scrapped because he believed it was nearly impossible to tell what was campy. ^[4]
In the E3 trailer for the game, the part going over Perfect Shielding still uses the old Perfect Shield sound effect from the last two games. In the final game, this sound was replaced with a more audible sound.
Unlike other bosses, Giga Bowser can be used as a fighter with the works of hacking, many unused elements can be found for him like a Kirby copy ability, a full moveset (albeit without access to certain moves), and many other elements that go unused. With all this in mind, it seems that Giga Bowser was ported over from Super Smash Bros. 4 where he was a transformation Final Smash for Bowser. [2]
Dataming Piranha Plant's character data (before it's official release) reveals that it was originally supposed to have three jumps instead of the standard 2. The parameter that controls its max amount of jumps, "jump_count_max", had its number decreased from 3 to 2 in the day one patch for Ultimate. The animation for the third jump can still be found in Piranha Plant's animation folder. ^[5]
Chef Kawasaki, after being summoned (assuming at least one person is trapped in his attack), will always leave behind a food item before disappearing. However, inside the folder "Generate_Param_Assist.prc", there are some food items Chef Kawasaki can never generate due to spawn rate being set to "0", despite them all being defined to be spawnable. The reason for this is not yet known. The following are food items Chef Kawasaki can never spawn: ^[6]
- Cherries
- Pears
- Milk
- Tea
- Cola
- Sushi
- Tenshin
- Corn Potage
- Chocolate
- Popcorn
- Salad
- Kiwi
- Mont Blanc
- Pasta
- Grape
- Candy
- Lemon
- Fried Egg
- Apple
- Roasted Chicken
- Steak
- Steamed Bun
- Pizza
- Pineapple
- Doughnut
- Cheese
- Peach
In a similar case, Rodin has weapons he can never gift the player due to their spawn rate being set to "0". The following are weapons Rodin can never generate:
- Fire Flower
- Gust Bellows
- Fire Bar
- Golden Hammer
- Hammer
- Homerun Bat
- Lip Stick
- Star Rod
Dragonite, despite already having a model used in the Kalos Pokémon League stage, has a different model that can be found in the folder that contains Poké Ball Pokemon in the game files. This version of Dragonite has upscaled textures, and shading that makes it look more in line with the assets created for Ultimate. Due to this, it can be assumed that Dragonite was once going to be a summonable Pokémon, but was cut from the game. It is currently unknown why it was cut.
- Another Pokémon, Scizor, has a case similar to this. However, unlike Dragonite, Scizor can actually be summoned (unless the player is on the Kalos Pokémon League stage, in which case it can never be summoned).
When Joker was initially datamined, his code implied that he would have a rapid jab as part of his moveset. However, in the final game, Joker's jab only goes up to three hits.

Music

The E3 reveal featured a “remix” of Lifelight that was used in later trailers (including post-launch DLC), but was absent in the actual game.
In the August 8, 2018 Nintendo Direct, several songs shown in the Sound Test had titles that were later altered prior to release:
- Metroid:
  - "Opening/Menu - Metroid Prime" was originally named "Metroid Prime: Opening/Menu".
  - "Multiplayer - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes" was originally named "Multiplayer (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes)", as it was in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
  - "Main Theme - Metroid Prime: Federation Force" was originally named "Splash Screen (Metroid Prime: Federation Force)".
  - "Magmoor Caverns - Metroid: Samus Returns" was originally named "Area 1 - 5 Torrid Zone (Metroid: Samus Returns)".
- Star Fox:
  - "Main Theme - Star Fox" was originally named "Star Fox - Main Theme".
  - "Corneria - Star Fox" was originally named "Corneria (Star Fox)".
  - "Main Theme - Star Fox 64 (64)","Main Theme - Star Fox 64 (Melee)", and "Main Theme - Star Fox 64 (Brawl)" were originally titled "Star Fox 64 - Main Theme (64)", "Star Fox 64 - Main Theme (Melee)", and "Star Fox 64 - Main Theme (Brawl)", respectively.
In Simon and Richter's reveal trailer, the ending features a remixed version of the Stage Clear theme from Castlevania; it differs slightly from the Castlevania victory theme heard in the final game, in that it lacks the electric guitar, implying the remix heard in the trailer is an earlier version of the victory theme.

Sounds

When a character is KO'd, a *foowish* sound effect is played when the game brings up the remaining stocks. However, in the King K. Rool vs Snake video posted by Nintendo UK the sound effect is completely different, being a *bleep* instead. [3]
In Wolf's character showcase video, his Blaster makes a considerably different sound than it does in the final game.

Spirit Battles

For a list of unused Spirit Battles in the game, see Unused content (SSBU)/Spirit Battles.

Although every spirit in the game is obtainable, there are many that can never be battled, as they do not appear on the Spirit Board and cannot be battled in any other context (such as World of Light). This is true of every spirit that is an enhanced form, as well as many that can only be obtained by summoning. Most of these spirits have default placeholder battle data, but some of them are modified from the placeholder data to varying degrees. This indicates that it may have been intended for these battles to be accessible before they were cut from the game.

In addition to spirits whose battles cannot be accessed, there is data for "dummy" battles as well. These battles were likely used for testing during development and were not intended to become complete, accessible battles in the game.

Aesthetics

Artwork & Alternate Costumes

Palutena, Shulk, and Falco have had their artworks updated over time.
In one of Wario's screenshots on the website, his overalls were depicted as having golden buttons as opposed to their usual white. This was changed back for the final release of the game.
In one of Luigi's screenshots on the website, the "L" on his cap for his 6th alternate costume was depicted as being green as opposed to purple as it was in the last game. This was also changed back for the final release of the game as well.
In all of Wolf's screenshots excluding the last one, Wolf's default costume had his jacket and gloves are darker shade purple, the straps behind his right shin guard being colored white, and the soles of his boots being red compared to his color scheme in the final build.
- Both shinguard straps has been changed in the final build as it's now colored purple instead of black. This change is not present on his artwork.
  - This also applies to all of his alternate costumes minus the seventh variant, where the straps are colored differently between the artwork and the in-game model.
In the E3 demo, Mario, Link, Pikachu, and Villager's portraits used their in-game models instead of their official artwork, with Mario being the most obvious.
In the E3 demo of the game, several of Sonic's alternate costumes, strangely, used varying shades of blue instead of other colors (like white and purple). These were changed back for the final release of the game as well.
In the E3 demo, if Nana is chosen as the leader, both Ice Climbers will have all their voice clips swapped; Nana will use Popo's voice clips and vice versa.
- The same goes for there palette swaps where in the E3 demo Popo takes Nana's spot for the costumes 5-8.
In the segment in which Ike uses Great Aether from his character showcase trailer, there is an error in which his portrait displays him in his Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn outfit despite currently being in his Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance outfit.
A Meta Ridley costume for Ridley was featured in his reveal trailer, Dark Samus' reveal trailer, and in a screenshot on the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate website. However, the costume was not in the E3 demo, and in its place was a costume inspired by Meta Ridley (shown below). The costume was later added in a future demo and in the final game.
- Additionally, a costume based on Mecha Ridley was featured in the E3 demo and in the final game. However, in the E3 demo, the costume was placed over Ridley's standard model, but in the final game, the costume uses the Meta Ridley model.
In a press material release, there is a render of Piranha Plant in its default red costume, but in a green pipe as opposed to a pot. In the final game, only Piranha Plant's 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th alternate costumes are all in pipes while the default is always in a pot.
In the E3 Demo, the male Pokémon Trainers 7th palette swap had a lighter skin tone than in the final game. The same is the case for Villager's 6th and 7th palette swaps.

Final Smashes

During the segment of the Nintendo E3 Direct that focused on King Dedede, his eyes are normal colored while he is wearing his mask in Dede-Rush. In the final game, his eyes are yellow.
- Additionally, in that same scene, Bowser has a different model when he is stuck onto the cage than in the final game.
While End of Day is being used in Olimar's showcase trailer, no Bulborbs can be seen, although the bite marks and sound effects remain. This was later fixed.
Power Star was still a Power Star in Rosalina & Luma's character showcase trailer; in the final version of the game, it is instead a Grand Star, and the move was renamed to match the change.
Wolf's character showcase trailer briefly features his Final Smash, Team Star Wolf. However, the background in the trailer is significantly different than what is featured in the final game; in the final game, the background is more akin to the background in Team Star Fox.
In the Nintendo E3 Direct, Bowser's showcase trailer, and the E3 Demo, Giga Bowser had a much brighter model than in the final game.
- Conversely, during Piranha Plant's reveal trailer, Petey Piranha had a much darker model compared to the final game.
Zero Suit Samus' Zero Laser used a different appearance in the Nintendo E3 Direct than in the final game.
In Toon Link's characer showcase trailer, his version of Triforce Slash reused the same sound effects as in Smash 4. In the final game, Toon Link uses new sound effects for Triforce Slash while the Smash 4 sound effects are used by Young Link instead.
During the "Everyone is Here!" trailer and Cloud's character showcase trailer, the camera would start shaking as Cloud was readying the final strike of Omnislash, similar to Smash 4. In the final game, the camera remains still while this is happening.
The textures for the Yoshi colors used in the Final Smash Stampede! uses a completely different file than Yoshi himself. Interestingly, those textures also include a Crafted World Yoshi, just like the playable character himself. This indicates that a Crafted World Yoshi is supposed to appear in the Final Smash, however, for unexplained reasons it never appears, implying that Crafted World Yoshi was cut from the Final Smash.
In Bowser's character data, there is an image of reticle with the character "仮" ("Temporary") placed twice on it, indicating that this reticle was a placeholder for Bowser's Final Smash Giga Bowser Punch.
When Ridley performs Plasma Scream in his reveal trailer, he screams just before firing the attack. He doesn't do this in the final game, however.
In the E3 gameplay, if the opponents reaches 100% damage or higher by the end of Ridley’s Final Smash, they will be screen KOed. In the final game, this was changed to an instant KO.

Movesets

In Luigi's character showcase trailer, Dr. Mario is seen using Mario's updated animation for Cape rather than his own new and unique animation when using Super Sheet, and his sheet is on his right hand, completely unanimated. Also in the trailer, when Luigi uses his Green Missile, he appears to be smiling, in the game however, he has an angry expression when charging it.
In early footage of Ultimate, Lucina has her old idle stance animation from SSB4, but in the final build, her idle stance matches Marth's new one.
During Roy’s character showcase video, he had a different running animation. In the final game, his running animation is instead the old one from Super Smash Bros. 4.
In Pikachu's showcase trailer, Mr. Game & Watch is shown using his former forward smash animation from Super Smash Bros. 4. In the final game, however, he uses his design from the Game & Watch game Fire Attack.
- Perhaps more notoriously, the design for the attack originally used the original depiction of the attackers from Fire Attack, based on stereotypical Native Americans (as could be seen with the feather on Mr. Game & Watch's head); this created backlash from the Native American community, and the design was changed to remove the feather in a day-one patch.
During Wolf's character showcase video in the E3 Direct, Wolf Flash lacked any visual effects.
- Additionally, during his character showcase video, his down smash had a different visual effect along while the bayonet on his blaster lacked any effects.
In Fox's character showcase video, his Reflector has a more greenish color than it does in previous iterations. In the final game, it is a much darker blue.

Other

The E3 demo of the game did not feature the changes to victory themes seen in the final version of the game.
- In the demo, the victory theme would start playing much sooner than in the final game.
- Ridley had a different victory theme in the E3 demo than the one heard in the final game. The most significant difference is that the E3 version ends with a mysterious harp arpeggio, reminiscent of the Unknown Item acquisition jingle from Metroid: Zero Mission.
- Additionally, on the victory screen, the announcer says "Ice Climbers wins!", where in the final build, he says "Ice Climbers win!" due to their name being plural.
In the E3 demo, Ike did not speak during his victory poses.
In the World of Light trailer, the Fishman from The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker was named "Merman"; in the final game, however, it was corrected to Fishman.
In early footage, the main menu has a few visual differences from the final game. The highlight box when selecting a mode has a white glow instead of a colored outline matching the corresponding mode, the background of the Vault section uses dots instead of diagonal lines, the background of the Games and More section uses thicker circles, the background of the Online section uses a simpler wave effect, and the button to access the Nintendo eShop is not available.
In early footage, the image that appears in the top right when selecting the "Smash" option in the Smash menu is different from the final game. Mario and Bowser have different poses and appear in different corners, Link and Samus are present instead of Kirby and Pit, and the flaming Smash symbol in the background is smaller.
In Bowser's showcase video on the website, Olimar is Screen KO'd by Bowser's Final Smash, Giga Bowser Punch, and is shown with his eyes closed during the Screen KO. In the final game, Olimar's Screen KO animation has his eyes open and exaggerated.
During her Final Smash in the E3 Direct, Zero Suit Samus' Final Smash portrait is in an unfinished state.
In the segment of the Nintendo E3 Direct that introduced Daisy, she had less facial expressions compared to the final game.
In Luigi's showcase video, he uses the same grinning expression from Smash 4 when charging up his Green Missile, where in the final build, he sports an angrier expression.
Just like in Smash 4, there are textures that imply R.O.B. was supposed to receive battle damage (indicated by cracks on his body) from taking too much damage. However, R.O.B in the final game never takes battle damage and only his pained expressions from Smash 4 still exist. The textures are also fully updated from Smash 4 despite not being used.
In King Dedede’s showcase trailer, he has his eyes wide open when crouching like in Smash 4. This is changed in the final game, where he slightly closes his eyes more in a humorously seductive manner.

Gallery

Wario with golden buttons.
Luigi with a green L in his 6th alternate costume.
The two cut Ridley costumes (top) and the final costumes (bottom).
King Dedede using Dede-Rush with white eyes instead of the yellow eyes in the final game.
The Fishman as "Merman" in the World of Light trailer.
The early main menu prior to the November 1st Nintendo Direct, in which Spirits was revealed.
The early image for selecting "Smash" in the Smash menu.
The Sound Test, with early titles for Metroid music
The background for Team Star Wolf in Wolf's showcase (top) and the one in the final game (bottom).
Villager's beta costumes showing him/her in their in-game models.
The two cut villager costumes (top) and the final costumes (bottom).
Mr. Game and Watch's infamous feather removed in the day one patch.
Olimar with shut eyes in his screen KO. Additionally, Giga Bowser is brighter than in the final game.
The unused DK bongo drums.
Piranha Plant's unused third jump animation.
Piranha Plant's unused render.
Nana and Popo beta costumes (top) with Popo taking Nana's place, in the final game (bottom) they are reversed.
The cut costume for Pokémon Trainer next to the one used in the final game.
The unused model for Dragonite.
The textures used for the Yoshis in Stampede!
Unused battle damage textures for R.O.B.
The placeholder reticle for Giga Bowser Punch.
Fox's Reflector in his character showcase trailer.