For GameShark codes used to access the Debug Menu, see here.

The debug menus are elements of development that were accidentally left in Super Smash Bros. There are four menus: System debug, Battle debug, Falls debug, and Unknown debug. Within these menus, the player has control over various aspects of the game, including unplayable characters, unplayable and single player stages, and more. In order to get to the debug menus, a GameShark device must be used.

System debug menu

 
The system debug menu in Super Smash Bros.

This menu contains various out of battle functions. Within it, one can play every sound and piece of music in the game and view every transition. Sadly, these two options appear to be the only ones that still function correctly. The others appear to do nothing.

Menu item Description Values
Continue Makes the menu disappear. It reappears if "start" is pressed.
rumble Has no function in the final release, but was presumably for testing rumble intensities. Min=0; Max=10; Increment=1
frame Has no known function. Min=0; Max=8000; Increment=1
STOP RUMBLE Has no function in the final release, but was presumably for stopping rumbling caused by the "rumble" option.
call Plays characters' crowd chants. Min=0; Max=11; Increment=1
  • 0: Mario
  • 1: Fox
  • 2: Donkey Kong
  • 3: Samus
  • 4: Luigi
  • 5: Link
  • 6: Yoshi
  • 7: Captain Falcon
  • 8: Kirby
  • 9: Pikachu
  • 10: Jigglypuff
  • 11: Ness
fgm Plays the various sound effects in the game.

  Min=0; Max=659; Increment=1
  Min=0; Max=905; Increment=1
  Min=0; Max=669; Increment=1

STOP FGM Stops all sound effects.
bgm Plays the various background music in the game. Min=0; Max=46; Increment=1 (See here.)
effect Applies an effect to the background music. Min=0; Max=5; Increment=1
STOP BGM Stops all background music.
(Transition) Executes the game's various transitions. Scroll through them with left and right on the control stick
  • Aeroplane
  • Check
  • Gakubuthi
  • Kannon
  • Star
  • Sudare1
  • Sudare2
  • Camera
  • Block
  • RotScale
  • Curtain
cic Has no known function. Min=0; Max=255; Increment=1
boot Has no known function. Min=0; Max=255; Increment=1
Exit Exits to the title screen.

BGM

Debug Number Music
0 Dream Land
1 Planet Zebes
2 Mushroom Kingdom
3 Mushroom Kingdom (1 minute left)
4 Sector Z
5 Congo Jungle
6 Peach's Castle
7 Saffron City
8 Yoshi's Island
9 Hyrule Castle
10 Character selection screen
11 Unused Fanfare
12
13
14 Donkey Kong's victory theme
15 Kirby's victory theme
16 Fox's victory theme
17 Ness's victory theme
18 Yoshi's victory theme
19 Captain Falcon's victory theme
20 Pikachu's and Jigglypuff's victory theme
21 Link's victory theme
22 Results screen
23 Master Hand's theme
24 Master Hand intro
25 Master Hand battle
26 Bonus stage
27 1P Game results screen
28 Bonus stage results screen
29 Master Hand results screen
30 Bonus stage failure
31 Continue screen
32 Game over screen
33 Intro
34 How to Play
35 1P Game VS. Screen
36 Fighting Polygon Team battle
37 Meta Crystal
38 Ending cutscene
39 Credit roll
40 Unlocked Character/Stage
41 Challenger approaching
42 Training mode
43 Characters and VS Record
44 Menu
45 Hammer
46 Starman

Battle debug menu

 
The battle debug menu in Super Smash Bros.

This menu contains options for starting 1P Game and Versus Mode matches. Characters such as Master Hand and Metal Mario can be selected here, and they can play on each stage in the game, including Meta Crystal and Battlefield. Pressing start begins the match.

Menu item Description
(Mode) Sets the game mode.
BattleTime Sets how much time (in minutes) that a versus match will last.
S Sets the 1P Game stage that the player should start on.
(P1 Type) Sets Player 1's player type.
(P1 Character) Sets Player 1's character.
(P1 Color) Sets Player 1's alternate costume.
(P2 Type) Sets Player 2's player type.
(P2 Character) Sets Player 2's character.
(P2 Color) Sets Player 2's alternate costume.
(P3 Type) Sets Player 3's player type.
(P3 Character) Sets Player 3's character.
(P3 Color) Sets Player 3's alternate costume.
(P4 Type) Sets Player 4's player type.
(P4 Character) Sets Player 4's character.
(P4 Color) Sets Player 4's alternate costume.

Modes

Mode Description
VS mode Starts a normal Versus Mode match using the 4 specified characters.
1P mode Starts a 1P Game using player 1's character .
Staffroll Plays the ending credits.
Explain Plays the "How to Play" video.
AutoDemo Plays the battle demo when the How to Play video ends.
Congra Shows the congratulations screen of player 1's character.

Characters

Debug name Character
Mario   Mario
Fox   Fox
Donkey   Donkey Kong
Samus   Samus
Luigi   Luigi
Link   Link
Yoshi   Yoshi
Captain   Captain Falcon
Kirby   Kirby
Pikacyu   Pikachu
Purin   Jigglypuff
Nes   Ness
Boss   Master Hand
Metal   Metal Mario
NMario   Mario Polygon
NFox   Fox Polygon
NDonkey   Donkey Kong Polygon
NSamus   Samus Polygon
NLuigi   Luigi Polygon
NLink   Link Polygon
NYoshi   Yoshi Polygon
NCaptain   Captain Falcon Polygon
NKirby   Kirby Polygon
NPikacyu   Mario Polygon
NPurin   Jigglypuff Polygon
NNes   Ness Polygon
GDonkey   Giant Donkey Kong

Player types

Type Description
Man A human controlled player.
Com A computer controlled player.
Not The slot is empty, no character will appear.
Demo Movement will be static, and the character intro will be glitched. The character cannot be interacted with in any way
Key Movement will be static. Will cause the animation of entering the stage to be glitched, almost similarly to the above.
GameKey

Stages

Debug name Stage name In-game usage Description
Mario Peach's Castle Playable Stage
Fox Sector Z Playable Stage
Donkey Congo Jungle Playable Stage
Samus Planet Zebes Playable Stage
Link Hyrule Castle Playable Stage
Yoshi Yoshi's Island Playable Stage
Kirby Dream Land Playable Stage
Pikacyu Saffron City Playable Stage
OldMario Mushroom Kingdom Playable Stage
Small None- Debug Menu Only A mostly flat stage similar to Dream Land in visuals and layout.
New None- Debug Menu Only A sister stage to "Small". This one has a modified layout.
Explain How to Play The stage used during the How to Play video.
SYoshi 1P Game The stage used during the second match in the 1P Game. It is a clone of Yoshi's Island, except that the clouds are absent.
Metal Meta Crystal 1P Game The stage used during the Metal Mario fight in the 1P Game.
Zako Battlefield 1P Game The stage used during the Fighting Polygon Team fight in the 1P Game.
Bonus3 Race to the Finish 1P Game The stage used during the "Race to the Finish" bonus round in the 1P Game.
Boss Final Destination 1P Game The stage used during the Master Hand fight in the 1P Game. Crashes the game if the stage is called through the debug menu.
Bonus1(CHAR) Target Test Bonus 1 Practice, 1P Game The stages used for the "Target Test" bonus game. There is one for each character. The game crashes if these stages are called through the debug menu.
Bonus2(CHAR) Board the Platforms Bonus 2 Practice, 1P Game The stages used for the "Board the Platforms" bonus game. There is one for each character. The game crashes if these stages are called through the debug menu.

"S" Stages

This option is only active if the mode is set to "1P Game". It sets which event to place player 1 in. This includes 1P Game stages and challenger approaching events.

1P Game stages
Debug name Opponents/Objective Stage
S:Link   Link Hyrule Castle
S:Yoshi   Yoshi Team (of 18) SYoshi
S:Fox   Fox Sector Z
S:Bonus1 Break the Targets Bonus1(CHAR)
S:MarioBros     Mario Bros Peach's Castle
S:Pikacyu   Pikachu Saffron City
S:GDonkey   Giant Donkey Kong Congo Jungle
S:Bonus2 Board the Platforms Bonus2(CHAR)
S:Kirby   Kirby Team (of 8) Dream Land
S:Samus   Samus Planet Zebes
S:Metal   Metal Mario Meta Crystal
S:Bonus3 Race to the Finish Bonus3
S:Zako   Fighting Polygon Team Battlefield
S:Boss   Master Hand Final Destination
Challenger approaching events
Debug name Opponent Stage
S:Luigi   Luigi Peach's Castle
S:Nes   Ness Dream Land
S:Purin   Jigglypuff Saffron City
S:Captain   Captain Falcon Planet Zebes

Falls debug menu

 
The falls debug menu in Super Smash Bros.

A very unstable menu, the Falls debug menu was most likely used to test the results screen, although it does nothing now. The game may randomly crash upon loading this menu for no known reason. There are 12 options in the menu, 3 for each character. Finish is repeated twice per character. The top one will crash the game if scrolled past 4. The bottom one can go out to 65536. Dead also ranges from 0 to 65536. If "A" is pressed, the battle debug menu is loaded, although changes made to the Falls debug menu appear not to affect the match or results screen in any way.

Unknown debug menu

This mysterious menu appears to have no function whatsoever. It lacks the interface found in the other 3 menus and appears to respond randomly to any button presses, throwing overlapping UI elements on the screen. This menu differs considerably from version to version.

Trivia

  • Super Smash Bros.'s debug menu contains two voice clips of Ness, one saying "PK" and another saying "Starstorm", as well as another clip of Captain Falcon saying "Come on!" (similarly to the start of his Blue Falcon move), suggesting that Final Smashes were originally intended to appear in the game. Masahiro Sakurai later confirmed in an interview that he did intend to implement Final Smashes in Super Smash Bros., and that the voice clips were intended for that purpose.