The originalSuper Smash Bros.roster of 12 was small even for the era, but it was hard not to love the mere concept of Nintendo’s most iconic characters duking it out. Even with a cast of 12,Super Smash Bros.felt like a full, comprehensive game on the Nintendo 64. Which made it all the more surprising whenSuper Smash Bros. Meleeimproved upon its predecessor in every way imaginable.
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Super Smash Bros. Meleeis the uber-sequel, improving everything that needs to be improved while redefining how the game is played completely. Any good fighting game is defined by their roster.Meleenot only brings back the core 12, but rounds them out with even more of Nintendo’s most legendary characters. Along with plenty of mechanical fixes,Meleereally is the perfect sequel.Super Smash Bros. Meleehas one of the tightest rosters in a fighting game, but it could’ve been even better by including cut characters.
7Balloon Fighter & Urban Champion Protagonist
Heading intoSuper Smash Bros. Melee’s development, Sakurai and his team new they wanted to represented the NES/Famicom era of games specifically. While the vast majority of Nintendo’s most familiar characters originated in said era, there were just as many series & characters that weren’t able to secure a legacy. This character slot would be a means of honoring a lost piece of Nintendo history.
While the team would eventually settle on the Ice Climbers as their NES/Famicom representative, they did bounce five notable characters. Of the five, Balloon Fighter makes the most sense to include over the Ice Climbers, asBalloon Fighterthe game was one of the NES' more popular and memorable titles. The unnamed protagonist ofUrban Championwas also considered to represent the era, likely in reference toUrban Championserving as one of the earliest fighting games on the NES.
6Bubbles & Excitebiker
Where Balloon Fighter referenced the arcade-like quality of most NES games while theUrban Championprotagonist was a node to the game’s early presence in the fighting genre,Clu Clu Land’s Bubbles likely would have represented the puzzle-centric games that littered the NES. While they were arcade-like in scope as well, a game likeClu Clu Landprioritized wit over reflexes like inBalloon Fighter.
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Perhaps the most interesting cut character of the Famicom Five is the Excitebiker.Excitebikehas always been one of Nintendo’s most underrated franchises despite how often the studio tried to push the series. An Excitebiker would not only have honored an important series in Nintendo’s catalogue, but referenced Nintendo’s early, pre-Mario Kartracing games.
5Ayumi Tachibana
Of the Famicom Five, Ayumi Tachibana would have been the most bizarre choice– something Sakurai seems to have recognized as the cited reason for her exclusion was ultimately her lack of presence with international audiences (something worth considering when taking into account the fact Marth and Roy were almost cut from the international release for this very reason.)
Ayumi Tachibana is one of the central characters inFamicom Detective Club, an early NES visual novel that never made it stateside. One has to wonder what kind of move set Ayumi Tachibana would have, but that’s a problem all of the Famicom Five have. When it comes down to it, it’s clear why the Ice Climbers were chosen. They simply offer more gameplay variety.
4Lucas
Lucas made his formalSuper Smash Bros.debut inSuper Smash Bros. Brawlfor the Nintendo Wii, but he was actually considered forSuper Smash Bros. Melee’s roster. Not only was Lucas considered, he would have replaced Ness in the process instead of serving as a clone. At the time,Mother 3wasn’t being developed for the Game Boy Advance, but instead the Nintendo 64.
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3Solid Snake
Hideo Kojima and Masahiro Sakurai are notably good friends, so it’s no surprise in hindsight that Solid Snake eventually joined the series. When his debut trailer dropped forSuper Smash Bros. Brawl, however, it was pure hype. Just the mere thought of Solid Snake inSuper Smash Bros.was jarring, but he ended up being one ofBrawl’s best characters– both in terms of competency and game feel.
Interestingly, Hideo Kojima actually approached Sakurai duringSuper Smash Bros. Melee’s development to have Solid Snake included in the game. Unfortunately, Kojima’s request came too late as the development team was already too deep to add anymore characters. That said, this likely explains why Solid Snake was one of the first characters revealed forBrawl.
2Sonic The Hedgehog
The rumors that circledSuper Smash Bros. Meleeregarding Sonic the Hedgehog are honestly legendary. Whether they stem from playground rumors or April Fool’s jokes, everyone had some idea of how to unlock Sonic the Hedgehog duringMelee’s heyday. Ultimately, there was no Sonic to unlock (and certainly no Tails,) which makes the fact Sonic was almost included all the more surprising.
Sonic’s reveal trailer forSuper Smash Bros. Brawlwas far more impactful than Snake’s was, but that’s only because he missed out his chance to be inMelee(a fate coincidentally shared with Snake.) Yuji Naka actually stated in an interview with EDGE that Sonicwasconsidered for the roster at some point, but time constraints ultimately led to his exclusion.
1Wario
Sakurai really seems to like Wario as evidenced by how much love & care he gave the character inSuper Smash Bros. Brawl. Wario has become a franchise staple since, but Sakurai actually intended for Wario to debut inSuper Smash Bros. Melee. Not just that, Sakurai clarified on Smabura-Ken (essentiallySuper Smash Bros. Melee’s Smash Dojo) that he would have added Wario ifMeleehad more development time.
That said, if Wario were included inSuper Smash Bros. Melee, he naturally wouldn’t have access to hisWarioWaremannerism and abilities. This would have naturally led to a Wario with moves based exclusively on hisWario Landself, likely playing off Wario’s ability to transform.
