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.
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.
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.
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 Bowling ball-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"; 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!".
Down smash has more range on both sides as its clean hit's hitboxes have been repositioned to cover the space past Jigglypuff's feet rather than its legs.
Rest deals 6% more damage (14% → 20%) significantly improving its KO potential.
Link's Master Sword is slightly shorter, worsening his range.
Link walks slightly slower (0.4 → 0.37).
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 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 smash's first two hits deal 1% damage making it deal 2% less damage overall (24% → 22%).
Down aerial deals 2% less damage (18% → 16%) and has decreased base knockback (30 → 25).
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%), 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 travel a shorter distance.
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%).
Up tilt deals less damage (8% → 7%) although its base knockback was compensated (70 → 80).
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 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.
{{nerf|PK Thunder 2 has a shorter duration (frames 1-28 → 1-18), less invincibility (frames
Rest has a much smaller hitbox (more similar to Melee).
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", "Computer Player" or "Team Battle". Instead, the English announcer voice clips “Captain Falcon”, “Computer Player” and “Team Battle” are used in the German version of Super Smash Bros.
Captain Falcon dashes faster (70 → 75).
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.