Unused content (SSB)
Beta elements are components of the Super Smash Bros. series that, for whatever reason, are removed or altered before that game is released. Known info about beta elements usually comes from one of two sources. The first is information released about a game, by its creators, before the game is complete. The second is data found within the coding of a game that serves no purpose, but could have been implemented into the game at one point.
Super Smash Bros.
Dragon King
Super Smash Bros. was initially developed by Masahiro Sakurai and Satoru Iwata in their downtime, in a form titled Dragon King: The Fighting Game (格闘ゲーム竜王, Kakuto-Gēmu Ryūō), which lacked Nintendo characters. Sakurai, however, felt that the game could not provide the proper atmosphere on a home console without Nintendo characters, and they were soon added and the game was redesigned and renamed. Only four known images of Dragon King exist; no known video footage or working prototypes are known to exist.[1]
Below are the four known images of the game.
Beta gameplay elements
A talk between Masahiro Sakurai and Satoru Iwata states that Sakurai had intended to add Final Smashes in the game. While he did record some dialogue for them, limitations of the Nintendo 64 prevented their inclusion; Final Smashes later became a reality nine years later with the release of Brawl. [2] While the sound effects of these Final Smashes are not accessible through normal play, they can be found through the use of the Debug Menu. These sounds include Ness yelling, "PK Starstorm!", Pikachu charging energy, and Captain Falcon yelling "Come on!". Other characters heard include Kirby and Link. In addition to the unused Final Smash clips, there are two unused Announcer voice clips: "Are you ready?" and "Final Stage." [3]
Beta stages
In the final game, two early stages are only playable with a GameShark; their intended use is unknown, but because they share textures and a background with Dream Land, it has been assumed that the two were meant to be other Kirby stages, or were testing stages before Dream Land's design was finalised. One of these versions, Kirby Beta Stage 2, can be viewed in the "How to Play" tutorial, which itself can be seen by waiting on the title screen.
Saffron City and Dream Land also had minor differences with the final product; the roofs of buildings in Saffron City had a considerably brighter pink texture on them, while Dream Land had considerably darker shades of green, as well as much taller grass in the foreground and background.
One of the Beta Kirby stages.
An older version of Dream Land. Note the darker coloration of the grass and trees.
An older version of Saffron City, with considerably more pink and purple.
Other beta elements
In the character select, the question mark boxes where the unlockable characters Captain Falcon, Ness, Luigi and Jigglypuff have their character portraits, were initially supposed to be colored, instead of the ordinary grey silhouettes with fiery backgrounds that appear in the final game; these coloured boxes matched the player number colours of red, blue, yellow, and green.
The original character select screen.
