Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the best-selling fighting game of all-time, and it generated considerable hype before and after its release. After the success of Super Smash Bros. Melee, and with the inclusion of popular third-party characters such as Snake and Sonic, Brawl took things to a new level.
With a large cast of characters, online play and even a full story mode, Brawl was everything Smash players had wanted. But when players discovered data files while mining the game, they discovered that several characters were planned to be in the game before being cut. One of those characters would’ve been a huge addition to the cast.
Who Was Cut From Super Smash Bros. Brawl?
Without a doubt, the most anticipated character who appears to have been cut from the game was Mewtwo.
The data showed unused character files that became known as “The Forbidden Seven.” They appeared in the game files as:
- “pra_mai”
- “mewtwo”
- “roy”
- “dr_mario”
- “toon_zelda”
- “toon_sheik”
- “Dixie”
Most of these didn’t have much data associated with the character files, and so much has been theorized as to what their intentions were; for example, Sakurai has said that “Dixie” stands for “Dixie Kong” and she was intended to be paired alongside Diddy Kong, with the concept being that you could swap between the two characters in battle. However, the idea was too difficult to pull off, and so Diddy Kong was the only playable character.
What’s most noteworthy about Mewtwo, however, is that he had several files that heavily imply he was intended to be included as a character before not making the final cut. There were files for an unused victory fanfare, a graphics effect file titled “ef_mewto.pac” and even a Wii Remote selection sound (the sound effect that would play through your Wii Remote when selecting a character.)
Due to his popularity, as well as the fact that he was an original character in Melee rather than being a clone like Dr. Mario and Roy, there is good reason to believe he was planned to be included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Sakurai himself said that several characters were planned to be featured in Brawl before being cut due to time restraints. And while he never officially revealed which characters were cut due to this reason, the unused data files help connect some of those dots.
Later Installments
Mewtwo would make his grand return to Smash in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as the first DLC character, and Roy Dr. Mario would also join him in the same game. All three characters would also return in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl was still a massive success, and the game developed a respectable competitive following, but there’s no telling just how historic the game would’ve been had it included one of Pokemon’s most legendary characters. And the data files showed just how close that was to being a reality.
To get a glimpse of just how exciting some of the character reveals for Brawl were, as well as a view at the most hype character reveals in Smash history, be sure to check out this article!
