Prerelease:Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

To do: Add some info on cut characters. Add Villager's early victory fanfare theme.

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With two years of development, lots of things were changed during the development of the 3DS and Wii U Smash Bros. game.

Scrapped Characters

Removed

• Ice Climbers - The Ice Climbers were planned to be brought back as playable characters. However, Sakurai revealed that the Ice Climbers were up and running on the Wii U at one point, but he couldn't get them to work on the Nintendo 3DS version. He also stated that the development team even disabled gravity to get the Ice Climbers working, even though the Ice Climbers were running without problems on the Wii U version. While they could have been used on the Wii U, Sakurai stated that he wanted both rosters of the game to be identical. He also stated that the Ice Climbers were low priority characters as they are very unlikely to get a new game in their series, so in the end, the Ice Climbers were ultimately excluded as playable characters. They still appear in-game as a trophy before being playable in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in order to fall in line with the "Everyone is Here" tagline.
• Rhythm Heaven character - Datamining has revealed an unused emblem for the Rhythm Heaven series, which suggests that a character from the series, long speculated by fans and industry insiders alike to be the Chorus Kids, was going to appear in the game before being scrapped at some point later in development. It is unknown why they were cut from the game.
• Alph - Several leftover documents show that Alph from Pikmin was originally set to get his own roster spot as a playable character, and was planned to use Rock Pikmin. However, neither of the ideas were implemented in the final release, probably due to time constraints. Alph was instead repurposed as an alternative costume for Olimar, with 4 color skins of his own.

Considered

• Takamaru - In an interview on a Niconico live-stream, Sakurai explained that Takamaru was briefly considered for a playable character, but was decided against due to low popularity, resulting in his Assist Trophy role.
• Chrom - According to Sakurai, Chrom was considered to be a playable character and even thought of some moves for him. However, Sakurai chose Robin, as Chrom lacked anything interesting when compared to Marth and Ike. Chrom still appears as part of Robin's Final Smash, and he would later get his chance, becoming playable in Ultimate as an Echo Fighter of Roy.
• Ridley - According to Sakurai, Ridley was briefly considered for a potential fighter, but the consideration fell through due to difficulties with getting Ridley to fly during development. Ridley would later debut in Ultimate.
• Heihachi Mishima - In Sakurai's Thoughts About Video Games 2, Sakurai states that Heihachi from Tekken was briefly considered for a playable character, but was decided against since his movements would have been difficult to implement.A Mii Brawler costume based on Heihachi still appears as DLC. Kazuya Mishima would later join the roster as a DLC fighter in Ultimate instead due to his Devil Gene.
• Other Final Fantasy characters - When talking about other characters from the Final Fantasy series to include in SSB4, Sakurai stated in an interview with series veteran Tetsuya Nomura that he thought about choosing different characters such as Bartz Klauser from Final Fantasy 5, or Terra Branford from Final Fantasy 6 to represent the series in-game. However, Sakurai ultimately claimed that it was difficult to imagine a Final Fantasy character that was not Cloud, owing to his primary iconic status. Both Sakurai and Nomura would go on in the same interview to joke about characters such as Strago Magus from FF6 and Fusoya from Final Fantasy 4, obliviously they weren't seriously considered.
• Steve - According to former Minecraft production director Daniel Kaplan, discussions to include Minecraft content in Smash had occurred no earlier then 2015, possibly indicating that Steve was considered to appear in SSB4. He would appear later in Ultimate.

Video Footage

Trailer 1

• There are absolutely no voices, a common trend in Smash Bros. pre-release material. However, for the most part, the sound effects are exactly the same as in the final game.
• KO effects are noticeably different from the final version, being much thinner and dissipating more quickly.
• The lighting effects on Samus' Zero Laser and Pit's Power of Flight are in a primitive state, with Pit's lacking the orange glow and Samus's looking completely different altogether.
• Pit's normal aerial from Brawl can be seen in the clip from 3D Land; this move was changed to a much more visible and easier to connect variant in the final game.
• Link's dash attack from Melee and Brawl was seen in the clip of Donkey Kong using Spinning Kong on Skyloft. This attack was later changed to the much more powerful "jump slash" as of the April Nintendo Direct.
• The rotating circular column which was later revealed to be part of the Smash Run map doesn't rotate.
• The Boxing Ring stage has incredibly bright lighting, which persisted for a rather long time, until Little Mac's reveal.

Mega Man Joins the Battle!

• Mega Man's facial expressions are very limited at this stage in development, with the lack of emotional variation being a common joke among the Smash community.
• The clip where Mega Man uses the Mega Upper on Samus contains a very early incarnation of the red lightning effect, which indicates when a character is very likely to be KOed. At this stage, the effect is far more subtle, being far smaller, lacking a black outline, and featuring much lighter shading.

E3 2013 Developer Direct

• Effects on moves like Bowser's Fire Breath and Mega Man's Flame Blast are in a slightly primitive state.
• All veteran characters use their Brawl voice clips as placeholders. While this normally isn't notable, as many veterans re-use clips in the final game, Kirby and Fox use completely new recordings.
• Air-dodging physics are identical to Brawl, as Donkey Kong suffers no landing lag during the brief scuffle on Battlefield. The final game would penalize persistent air dodgers by having landing lag occur if one is too close to the ground.
• Pit's Upperdash Arm animation is very unpolished, and also has much less ending lag.
• The Guardian Orbitars use a different sound effect upon startup.
• The revival platforms and Capsule item use their designs from Brawl, but they received slight alterations later on.
• Villager's up tilt (the one where he twirls a stick) has no visual "trail".
• Villager's dash attack (the one where he slips and drops a plant pot) has the pot stay in place, as opposed to toppling on the ground in front of him.
• Villager's firework and shovel have different designs compared to the final game.
• Mega Man's Leaf Shield has much quicker start-up, and the leaves circle Mega Man at a much quicker pace than seen in the final game.
• Pit's up-aerial looks very similar to the Brawl animation - it was tweaked to appear much more clearly visible later on in development.
• Many stages use the original tracks from their games instead of their respective remixes.

Sonic Joins the Battle!

• Sonic's Spin Dash behaves exactly like in Brawl.
• Sonic's down tilt launches opponents upwards like in Brawl.

Comet Observatory

• Rosalina's crouch walk animation is slightly different, and doesn't have any sound effects.

Champion of the Ring

• When transforming into Giga Mac, Little Mac does not get covered in any light.
• The segment displaying the KO Uppercut erroneously displays the Japanese names for Bowser and Mega Man for a fraction of a second, even in English variants of the video.

Super Smash Bros Direct

• Voices are mostly absent throughout the entire Direct.
• The song list for Skyloft is in a very primitive state - Ocarina of Time Medley is shown there instead of on Bridge of Eldin (likely to hide the stage, as it wasn't revealed yet), and the arrangements of Ballad of the Goddess, the Main Theme, and Saria's Song, while playing on the stage as normal, only have one part of the song named (Ghirahim's Theme, Underworld Theme, and Middle Boss Battle are omitted from each title respectively).
• Diddy Kong's Banana Toss still remains active after being slipped on, as Fox grabs it. They disappear under such circumstances in the final release.
• Diddy Kong and Lucario very noticeably use their Brawl artwork in any character portrait shots, implying that they were in an earlier state of development.
• 3D Land can be seen with a very different layout.
• An extra flipper is present in the dark green version of the Balloon Fight stage.
• Palutena's Temple was mistakenly called Skyworld in the European version of the Direct, which, while technically correct (Palutena's Temple is part of Skyworld), is inconsistent with the returning Brawl stage of the same name. This was corrected for retail.
• Staryu fires its Swift attack at a faster rate than in the final game, more similar to the previous games.
• An early model of Ridley can be seen with a much skinnier appearance.
• Keldeo's appearance doesn't give the screen a white hue.
• Waluigi is shown off with the WarioWare symbol instead of the Mario icon.
• Samus's Zero Laser appears visually unchanged from its appearance at E3 2013. It also appears to last slightly longer than in the actual game.
• Rosalina & Luma's Power Star Final Smash stays the same size throughout the attack, and does not grow in size at all, contrary to the final version of the game.
• Little Mac's name is displayed as one word during the KO Uppercut showcase.
• The sound effect for collecting Smash Run power-ups is different.
• Luigi uses a different, more pained expression when jumping during the character montage.
• A VERY hard to notice debugging remnant can be seen in the character montage near the end, during the part when Zero Suit Samus uses her side-smash on Palutena's Temple. Japanese text reading "damage taken" can be shown in the top left corner of the screen in red. This caused many to believe that Palutena's Temple would receive a stage boss, something which never came to pass.

Challenger From the Shadows

• Charizard's voice is quite different from that in the final game.
• Again, no visual effects accompany Keldeo's appearance on the stage.

E3 2014 Developer Interview (Mii Fighter reveal + 3DS trailer)

• Menu 2 from Brawl can be heard during the demonstration of the Mii Fighter's custom moves, when it is not present in the final release.
• The series icons shown on the Classic map have a white outline circling them which isn't present in the final game.
• The "VS." screen in Classic looks very different from the final version. Both the stage number and character names have lowercase letters which were later substituted for all-caps letters, and the sound effects for the roulette are also different.
• The character art is positioned differently compared to the final version, notably being more zoomed out.
• The Fighting Mii Team use Mii faces as stock icons, while in the final game the icons represent their type (a fist, sword or gun for a Brawler, Swordfighter or Gunner respectably).
• Samus is listed in the Sound Test; she isn't in the final game since her audio is entirely composed of sound effects and not voice-overs.
• Master Hand uses his KO scream from Brawl as a placeholder, and the sound effect playing afterwards is never even heard in the final game, let alone used for Master Core.

E3 2014 Demos

Cosmetic Changes

• The Menu music for the Wii U build was the same as that used in the 3DS version - the Wii U version would use a slightly more flourished variant upon release. (Wii U)
• Names were present under the character portraits, like in the other Smash Bros. games. (3DS)
• The backdrops for Fox and Greninja were changed from green here to blue in the final. (3DS)
• The character order was very different for the Wii U version of the game. (Wii U)
• Bizarrely, Stock icons are aligned to the right of each character's display in battle, rather than to the left directly under their names. (Wii U)
• The font used for character names in battle is different to that used in the eventual release. (Wii U)
• Some of the character art could be seen "escaping" from the top of the boxes at the bottom of the Wii U's character select screen. (Wii U)
• All stage busts had the original game logo appear on the right, as opposed to the left. (Wii U)
• The Pilotwings splash art used a different picture showing the red plane flying towards Wuhu Island. The final game shows the yellow plane flying over the 16-bit runway, directly behind the red plane. (Wii U)
• The Wily Castle splash art was missing the Yellow Devil. (Wii U)
• Smash Run's bottom screen display was glitched in this build - fighter icons from the map occasionally still show up on the stats display after scrolling between them. (3DS)
• All of the unused Smash Run pictures (barring the placeholder one) were used in this build. (3DS)
• Music which played in challenge rooms during Smash Run would still play until one left the room, even after finishing the challenge. (3DS)
• Upon failing a challenge room in Smash Run, you would be greeted with a "Failure!" announcement and graphic before being returned to the main map. Bizarrely, this was removed from the final game, despite the "Success!" announcement and graphic still being used when they are cleared.
• Alternate color palettes weren't shown before the beginning of a Smash Run "Final Battle". (3DS)
• The sound effects used upon collecting powers and custom parts were all different. (3DS)
• The sound effect used when an event occurs in Smash Run was a higher-pitched version of the sound used in the final game. (3DS)
• In Smash Run, rather than showing the stat boosts you gained in order, it just showed them all at once, and flashed if you gained the most. (3DS)
• Additionally, the sound effects used when tallying the stat boosts at the end of Smash Run are different. (3DS)
• The Boxing Ring stage still didn't display the character aliases on the scoreboard. (Wii U)
• Assist Trophies and Pokémon did not show who summoned them.
• Lighting on the results screen would be substantially changed between this build and the final game, mainly to make characters appear less "shiny". This was most apparent with Olimar, Zero Suit Samus, Kirby, And the 3rd Variant of Villager. (Wii U)
• In the Wii U version, when a game was over, the characters will slow down quickly, and the screen will freeze from 5-8 seconds, before the victory screen is shown. In the 3DS version, the victory screen is displayed after the end of the match, like the final version.

Mechanic Changes

• "Stale moves negation" hadn't been implemented.
• Custom moves weren't properly translated at this stage: Side special moves were incorrectly referenced as up or down specials. (3DS)
  • One of Donkey Kong's custom moves was called "Giant Blow". No such move exists in the final game, although this was likely merely an early name for Storm Punch, a variant of Giant Punch with a windbox and tornado effect. (3DS)
• The E3 build was generally much less stable, and prone to crashing under especially strenuous circumstances.
• Camera glitches were a frequent occurrence, especially in Sudden Deaths, where the camera wouldn't readjust after the timer ended.
• The background froze once a match ended in the 3DS version - the retail release allows roughly 2 seconds of slowed down action before freezing. (3DS)

Character Changes

Note that all of these are compared to the initial release (1.0) of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

Mario

• Back aerial dealt 12%. (10.5% in release builds)
• Up aerials knockback sent foes more horizontally rather than vertically, akin to how the move was in Brawl.

Donkey Kong

• Donkey Kong's up aerial still utilized its animation and interruptibility frames from Brawl, in addition to lacking the small rotation after the attack.
• A sound effect from Konga Beat (heard in the final game when one manages 4 consecutive "Great!" presses in a row) was absent from this build.

Link (Wii U only)

No noticeable differences.

Samus

• Down tilt dealt 14%. (12% in release builds)
• Down smash dealt 11% and 13% on the front and back hits respectably. (10%/12% in release builds)
• When using the Dark Suit costume, Samus' clapping portrait on the results screen sometimes contained an odd mistake, where her visor would incorrectly use the same red texture as the slits on her suit. It would later be corrected. (Wii U)
• Samus' clapping animation was angled slightly differently, facing more towards the left, and zoomed closer towards her helmet. (Wii U)

Yoshi (3DS only)

• Down smash's sweetspot dealt 13%. (12% in release builds)
• The fragments of Yoshi's egg shell were decorated with green spots when using the blue costume.

Kirby

• Kirby's up-throw dealt shockingly high knockback, to the extent where it was a reliable kill move, even under 100%. Understandably, this move was toned down considerably for the final release, where it doesn't kill until around 200%, like most throws.

Fox

• Fox still had his "damage yells" coded in the same way as Brawl, where there was roughly a 1 second delay before the corresponding sound file played after being hit. All characters with voices "yell" immediately after being hit in the final game.

Pikachu

• Up tilt dealt 7%. (5% in release builds)
• Neutral aerial's sweetspot deals 12%. (8.5% in release builds)
• Skull Bash dealt 22% upon being fully charged. (21% in release builds)

Luigi (3DS only)

• Luigi could allegedly wall jump in this build, a feature which may or may not have been leftover from Mario.
• Forward tilt dealt 10%. (8% in release builds)
• Normal aerial dealt 14%. (12% in release builds)
• Up smash dealt 15%. (14% in release builds)
• The "pop" sound effect which plays at the end of Luigi's Poltergust 5000 Final Smash was higher pitched in this build.

Bowser

• Bowser's back throw had a slightly different animation.

Zelda

• Jab dealt 6%, 2% on each hit. (8% in release builds)
• Up tilt dealt 5%. (6.5% in release builds)
• Zelda's down-smash had slightly less endlag, akin to Brawl.
• The zoom-in applied during Zelda's Final Smash (Light Arrow) was noticeably slower in this build than in the final game.
• Zelda's victory pose where she holds her hands together in a praying motion before staring to the left was missing its magic effects at this time. (3DS)
• Zelda's clapping animation zoomed in on her face, but shows more of her body in the retail build. (Wii U)

Sheik (3DS only)

• According to Nintendo Treehouse Staff, Bouncing Fish could meteor smash enemies. It has no such property in the retail build.
• Forward aerial's sweetspot dealt 9%. (6.8% in release builds)
• Bouncing Fish dealt 9%. (12% in release builds)
• The zoom-in applied during Sheik's Final Smash (Light Arrow) was noticeably slower in this build than in the final game.

Marth

• Marth's facial expressions during his victory pose were ever so slightly altered for the final product to make his smile more prominent.

Pit

• Down tilt dealt 10%. (6% in release builds)
• Forward smash dealt 16%, as the 1st hit dealt 6% as opposed to 5%. (15% in release builds)
• Up smash dealt 14%, as the 1st hit dealt 4% as opposed to 3%. (13% in release builds)
• Down smash dealt 13%. (12% in release builds)
• Pit's clapping animation was ripped directly from Brawl; it would be changed for the final release. (Wii U)
• Pit's "It's game over for you!" victory animation had a different camera angle.
• The voice clip which played upon using Pit's down smash was chopped slightly between this build and the game's release.

Zero Suit Samus (Wii U only)

• Zero Suit Samus still utilized her Brawl animation when using her neutral special move (Paralyzer) while in the air.
• The graphical presentation for Zero Suit Samus' Final Smash (Gunship) was noticeably unfinished - it lacked the faint command boxes decorating the UI of the Final Smash, the animated sphere graphic (as well as the purple energy emanating around it) was absent, and the textures for the metallic object at the top of the screen would later be adjusted to stand out more.

Sonic

No noticeable differences.

Olimar (Wii U only)

No noticeable differences.

Toon Link (3DS only)

No noticeable differences.

Villager

• Villager's fireworks canister (seen during his up smash) still uses the plain texture seen in the E3 2013 Developer Direct.
• Lloid Rocket dealt 17% when Villager rode it. (16% in release builds)
• A CPU Villager's balloons are a bright purple as opposed to grey. (3DS)
• Villager's victory theme was changed in the final release.
• Villager’s net victory pose was changed in the final release, changing from a faster cleaner version, to a slower janky-er version to match the slower pace of the final victory theme.
• In the E3 version, Villager’s Clapping animation was mostly zoomed in to his hands , so only half of his head was shown, and most of his hands filled the box. In the final version, he is zoomed out so his upper body is shown fully.

Mega Man

• Mega Man used his default blue "particle" colors upon getting KOed or teleporting, no matter what color he picks.
• Mega Man's Final Smash transitions slightly slower between when the incarnations of Mega Man charge their lasers and when the lasers are fired.
• Mega Man's Final Smash became infamous for causing lockups at various events, including the Best-Buy event. (Wii U)

Wii Fit Trainer

• Up tilt's sweetspot dealt 10%. (8% in release builds)
• Bizarrely, Wii Fit Trainer is aligned to the left of her portrait when clapping on the results screen.

Rosalina & Luma (Wii U only)

• Rosalina was a slightly heavier character - while she is around Kirby's weight in the retail game, the demo build has her slightly heavier than Zelda.
• Rosalina's dash attack used different sound effects on hit, compared to the final product.

Little Mac

• Little Mac's forward throw has a different sound effect on hit.
• A glitch involving Little Mac existed, where if you attacked breakable items while transformed into Giga Mac (his Final Smash), he would get stuck in a T-pose (still facing the side) until the Final Smash timer expired. He could still be damaged in this state. (Wii U)
• Giga Mac lasted for a much longer duration in this build, with the transformation lasting 18 seconds as opposed to the final games' 11 seconds.
• Little Mac's victory pose had a slight delay between the end of the animation and the announcement itself. (Wii U)
• Doc Louis' animation during Little Mac's victory pose was slightly different in the 3DS version: he was positioned to Mac's left as opposed to his right, was placed further back than in the final release, and raised his fist after Mac's animation as opposed to during it. (3DS)

Greninja

• Greninja's up-smash had less interruptibility, allowing it to be cancelled into other actions sooner than in the final game.
• Greninja's voice clips were reorganised quite a bit:
  • One of its KO sounds was originally a much longer recording, and played whenever Greninja took "heavy damage" as opposed to when it was KOed, which had a rather jarring effect during a fight.
  • Likewise, one of its former KO sounds was changed to play when it takes a strong hit.
  • Greninja had a much longer audio clip when using its up or down smash in this build, which lasted well after the move had already been executed. This voice clip appears to have been removed from the game entirely.

Victory Fanfares

Another piece of unused content in Super Smash Bros. Wii U & 3DS is unused victory fanfares. One of the lesser-known unused fanfare was for the character Villager (Murabito). His unused victory theme was in the prototype version of the game, version 0. Villager's unused theme was more grand-sounding and had a more upbeat and victorious tone than the used one.

To do: Add Villager’s E3 High Definition Victory theme. YouTube doesn’t have any leads. Maybe try contacting music composers for that game?

An early variation of Villager’s victory theme can be heard in footage from the aforementioned pre-release builds. While still using Animal Crossing GCN: Title Theme as a base, this older version has a slightly faster tempo, more percussion, and an altogether more symphonic and grander sound compared to the version heard in the final game, which has instrumentation more in line with the usual Animal Crossing series compositions.

Vague recordings of Villagers E3 victory theme can be heard in the following videos:

https://youtu.be/PMseKXLk0zA Timestamp: 15:48

https://youtu.be/jd0Z8jQ__QQ?si=Nt_FmAAsHcK4LtPD Timestamp: 24:35

https://youtu.be/MpO3vip5FLY?si=5AP1pCO-5WzRFZI4 Timestamp: 24:37

https://youtu.be/XfV_rn3PZC4?si=fw3J7IkyIyaLdZkG Timestamp: 3:09

https://www.reddit.com/r/supersmashbros/s/yPGttBFSgU

during the early version of villager’s net victory pose, there are noticeable differences, mainly noticing that the early version is cleaner than the final. The early version had a cleaner animation when villager launches his net to catch a bug. [A Gif comparison will be added]

Miscellaneous

• The Ore Club item mistakenly included Star Rod sound effects whenever it was swung, likely a consequence of copied data.
• When characters were under the effects of Super or Poison Mushrooms, the same voice clips were used as normal, as they were not pitched up/down to accommodate the transformation. (3DS)
• The Fairy Bottle allegedly didn't work at all during this build, even over 100%.
• Mother Brain would charge up and fire 2 lasers when summoned in this build - she only fires 1 in the final game before disappearing.
• Loading times were longer across the board - this was especially noticeable for the results screen, which occasionally took upwards of 10 seconds following the end of a match to load.
• Sound effects still played after the match ended, similarly to Brawl. In-game sounds remain silent after a "Game!" or "Time!" announcement in the final game.
• Cycling through the results screen caused noticeable slowdown in this build. (Wii U)
• The sound effect which played when the winner of a match is announced differed slightly: it was identical to the "character reveal" sound in this build, but was changed to a more low-key explosion sound later on.
• The "Luigi (With Poltergust 5000)" (3000 in the North American version) trophy was awarded in this build during Smash Run. In the final release, you have to collect 500 unique Trophies. (3DS)
• The music track playing was not shown.
• Keldeo would yell its summoning cry every time it attacked. Its attack noise was changed to a subtle grunt in the final game.
• When recovering health, the damage % would immediately shift from the current % down to 0%, as opposed to quickly cycling from that % downwards. (Wii U)

Miiverse "Pic of the Day" Updates/Website Content

• A screenshot shows Pikachu attempting Trophy Rush with a timer of 3:21, but you cannot exceed 2:30 in-game. (June 18th, 2014)
• Donkey Kong can be seen using the Hand Slap akin to Brawl, as opposed to the more exaggerated animations he uses in the retail release. (DK website picture #10)
• Link is seen interacting with Conductor Link on the Spirit Train level, an impossible feat to replicate as Conductor Link is replaced with Alfonzo if any players pick Link or Toon Link. (Link website picture #10)
• A shot of the Pyrosphere which can't ever be seen in the game normally was shown off at one stage. It shows the interior part of the crack where Ridley would travel through to enter the stage. (September 18th, 2013)
• 3D Land originally had a much duller color scheme (July 9th, 2013) and a different layout. The Warp Pipe was lowered, more ground was added in place of Donut Blocks, and the two blocks next to the pipe were reversed and moved to the left.

Prototype	Final

• Early shots of the Windy Hill stage lacked the Animal Friends in the background. (October 23rd, 2013)
• Viridi's first appearance in a Pic of the Day had her wear a wreath of roses. This is inconsistent with her appearance in Kid Icarus: Uprising, so it was later removed. (January 23rd, 2014)
• Lucario's animation for releasing an Aura Sphere is much less exaggerated. (February 3rd, 2014)
• Numerous pictures (July 24th, 2013, website picture #10) depict Pit using Palutena's Bow akin to how he did in Brawl. By November 1st 2013, the pose had been altered to its appearance in the final game.

Prototype	Final

• Sakurai claimed that the 3DS version would feature "roughly" the same amount of Assist Trophies and Poké Balls as the Wii U version, but there ended up being no system-exclusive summons. (April 18th, 2014)
• The official reveal of the Super Leaf stated that the balancing team were unsure on whether or not players could attack with the tail. This feature was regrettably never implemented. (April 30th, 2014)
• An early shot of the Garden of Hope stage showed a 3D model of Alph's Spaceship, the S.S. Drake. The final version displays it as a sprite. (July 15th, 2013)
• Ike's Eruption special move was originally shown to produce red flames akin to Brawl, but this would later be altered to produce blue fire. (May 29th, 2014)

Prototype	Final

• The Rayman trophy had a much different appearance in its initial reveal than in the final game, with less accurate proportions and a lazier expression. (July 14th, 2014)
• Kirby's hammer was once a model port from Melee, before being replaced by a new one in the final version. He also doesn't have a furrowed brow, and his mouth isn't open as wide. The stage lighting on Mario Galaxy is much brighter, too. (September 10th, 2013)

Prototype	Final

• Villager's firework canister has a different design in the final. Like Kirby, his face was also changed from a neutral expression to one of surprise. (June 11th, 2013)

Prototype	Final

Miscellaneous Details

• The portraits for the Mii fighters are used in the replay functionality, but the actual use of them on the character selection screen was not put into the final game. A screenshot showing this exists in the Prima Strategy Guide. Even for the replay functionality, the only time they're actually seen is in a tiny preview when selecting replays for a particular character.

(Source: Prima Strategy Guide, p. 292)

• The Flying Man hazard on Magicant was originally to be rendered as a 3D model instead of using the original sprite. This was changed to put less stress on the console.

(Source: Sakurai's Famitsu column, "Game ni Tsuite Omoukoto" (Think about the Video Games))

• There was once a Tharja trophy present in the 3DS version. Due to its removal, the trophy count was reduced from 686 to 685.

(Source: ESRB leak)