What if Melee had 6 more months of development?

おはようございます。 So what if Melee had 6 more months of development? Well, we can speculate based on what Sakurai (Sakura-i) and his past, look at cut content from Melee as reference, and observe what was added later into Smash Bros. franchise for clues! First let's talk about sources I'll be using— Both the Smash Bros. Fist and News Flash websites will be where I source a lot of this information. If you're not familiar, these were the Smash Dojo websites where Sakurai and team would talk about development for Smash 64 and Melee respectively. However, they were never officially translated into English like the Brawl and Wii U/3DS games were. Here we can see fans writing in via a questionnaire and Sakurai himself responding. The webpages from these sources are how we're aware of a lot of the cut content and planned content for Melee. Other sources will be Sakurai's comments in interviews, in his Famitsu column, or from his discussions on Iwata Asks. Some of this is just conjecture, but I hope you'll enjoy this speculative journey in what Melee with a little extra time may have looked like. [Japanese] 6 months might not seem like a very long time, but remember the entirety of Melee's development happened in only 13 months, so this would add nearly 50% more time to development. We do know that if Sakurai had spent much more time on Melee, he would have given himself a vacation or a break, so not all 6 additional months would have likely been fully dedicated to development. However, the team had a lot of aspirations and ideas for content that had to be cut, including planned features, unique items, new stages, and of course, additional characters. So let's start there with this character selection screen. What you're seeing is a modified version of Melee using the MEX system. I'll be showing you some visual aids in the form of Melee mods, Brawl mods, and some video editing trickery to help sell the idea of a version of Melee that never officially has been made. When it comes to what characters are considered for Smash, we know Sakurai himself has a strong influence in deciding who's included. He made his decisions based on how their moveset could potentially work in the game, whether or not he felt they would fit in with the rest of the cast, and based on their popularity. Another factor that commonly went into Sakurai's decision for what characters he could include was how similar their skeletons and their models were compared to existing characters. The more similar a new character's model would be to an existing character, the easier it would be to make semi-clones or clones of that character thus easier for their inclusion. It's important to remember the kinds of expectations players had for what newcomers might be in Melee. Here, Sakurai is reminding a fan that if a character has only appeared in one title, that decreases their odds for being a newcomer in Smash. So, based on these factors, and also with the knowledge we have about who Sakurai would add in future Smash titles, we can make a few assumptions about his inclusions. We know from the Smash 2 poll and this response from Sakurai that if there was one additional character to be added to the roster in Melee, it would have been Wario. However, he had some concerns about overrepresentation from the Mario series, and at this time WarioWare was still a few years away, so Wario was much more aligned with the Mario series rather than his own standalone series. It is important to note that Wario Land 4 had released by this time though. Characters from the company Rare were extremely popular and continually requested for Smash 64 sequel. Even getting its own category when Sakurai displayed the Smash 2 poll results arranged by series. Of the likely candidates, Diddy Kong was the most realizable, as he was Nintendo-owned, unlike James Bond or Banjo-Kazooie. Back then, Diddy would have been considered as much of a Rare character as a Nintendo character, and had the benefit of being playable in the first 2 Donkey Kong Country games, Diddy Kong Racing, and of course, in Donkey Kong 64. "Wahoo! Wahoo!" As for Wolf, we know Sakurai had originally intended to make each of the costumes in Smash 64 each of the Star Fox team members on Fox's costume slots, but this was cut originally because of proportion differences in the character models. We know Sakurai and his team went as far as designing Wolf for Melee thanks to the Melee opening movie where he was modeled for this scene, and we know he would have had a similar skeleton to Fox to make him easier to animate. Obviously Wolf would appear in later Smash games as well, and based on the fact that the character appeared in the Smash 2 poll, it could have been likely. It's also worth calling out that Ganondorf and Bowser's inclusions were partially a response to a lack of villains in the Smash Bros. roster, which Sakurai sought to remedy. Another Pokémon character would have been likely also, and there was a lot of demand for playable Pokémon characters, with one fan going as far as to say he wished all 151 Pokémon from the original Pokémon games were playable. Another fan said Lizardon, Charizard's Japanese name, was their top pick. We also know Charizard was added into the later Smash games, and the main reason Pokémon Trainer wasn't added sooner was due to hardware limitations. Assuming Sakurai was able to do a last-minute inclusion, I've included Ayumi Tachibana from Famicom Detective Club, one of the characters Sakurai wanted to add. Nintendo of America signing off on Marth and Roy in the international releases may have instilled enough confidence in Sakurai to add Ayumi to the roster. Like Ganondorf to Falcon, Ayumi would be a semi-clone of Zelda, having a similar skeleton to her. Speaking of Ganondorf, with a little more time, the team would be able to change his moveset slightly to incorporate more sword-based moves, similar to his treatment in Smash Ultimate. Fox and Falco would have their Star Fox Adventures English voice cast in the North American releases, and Wolf would have the Star Fox 64 voice actor in each of their respective regions. Looks like we win today. "Star Fox." It's worth pointing out that although in the final release of Melee, Fox and Falco were voiced by their Japanese voice actors, in Adventure Mode and the hidden Smash taunt for the Corneria and Venom stages, the Star Fox Adventures English voice cast are the ones talking. Link's taunt would have been changed to include Navi the fairy, as you can see here in Sakurai's message. Lastly, each character would get at least one more costume than they have right now. The Melee mod "Akaneia" does a great job of conceptualizing what this might look like. And now the stages. Every front stage would receive a corresponding backstage as originally planned. The Fire Emblem series would finally get stage representation in Melee with Castle Siege in Archanea and Secret Cave in Ostia. Castle Siege would be similar to its Brawl counterpart without the transformations, and the Secret Cave stage would be similar to the third transformation from Brawl stage as a standalone with occasional lava splashing on the stage. Ice Climber would get the cut Ice Top stage, which is Summit, and of course another nod to the Brawl stage inclusions. And Game Watch would get the Flat Zone 2 stage, which would feature a rotating set of games including Fire, Oil Panic, Lion, and Chef, just like its Brawl stage version. The only series to receive no stages would be the Wario series and the Famicom Detective Club series. Poké Floats would be completely replaced by Sprout Tower, the original planned stage for that slot. Occasionally earthquakes would cause the tower to lean and shake. Every Smash 64 stage would return, with Meta Crystal thrown in as a bonus. "Yah-hoo!" Let's talk music. Wario Land's main theme from Wario Land 3 would play as the secondary track on Peach's Castle. The Star Wolf theme would play as a secondary song on Venom. The Battlemap 1 theme from the first Fire Emblem game would be the track for the Secret Cave stage. Yah! And a Dark World track as a secondary temple theme would play to replace the Fire Emblem theme, which of course would go on the Castle Siege stage. Flat Zone 2 would have the octopus theme from the Game Boy Advance collection of Game Watch games. Summit would have another Ice Climbers theme arrangement. That theme from Famicom Detective Club, "The Girl Who Stands Behind," will be the secondary song on 4-Side for Ayumi. Each Smash 64 stage would have its respective music track. And finally, since Sakurai and the HAL team absolutely love Mother music, a Girl Meets Boy theme would be included somehow, possibly even as a third track on one of the Earthbound stages. Here's the theme meticulously recreated in the Andou and Sakai style. [Japanese] Next up are items. Take note of the new ones here. Final Smashes could have been removed as a hardware limitation issue, but in case they weren't, here's what a few of them could have looked like. "He can't!" Proximity mines would remain in the game and be stylized with their Perfect Dark appearance, and the cut Timed Mine item would retain its 007 design. Just like they did with the Cloaking Device, they would get around the ESRB concern by just saying "Top Secret" in the source, within the trophy item's description. Deku Nuts would be an added item so that the unused item blind animations could be used. New Pokémon added could have been the previously cut Ditto, and Charmander would replace Charizard in the Poké Ball, referencing the Saffron City stage appearance. Since Charizard's now a playable character, we have to find a replacement. Assist Capsules, another cut item from Melee, would be included also. Of course, these items would end up becoming a staple in Smash, as Assist Trophies. The Assist Capsule characters would include: Kamek, Skull Kid, Sukapon, Mr. Saturn, Gooey, Dr. Wright, Navarre, Slippy in the Landmaster, Balloon Fighter, Metroid, Samurai Goroh, Mr. Resetti, Takamaru, and Saki. These selections were based upon what was popular at the time, what characters Sakurai would want, and also what he would end up incorporating as actual Assist Trophies in later installments. Mr. Saturn is already an item in Melee, so he'd easily be converted into an Assist Capsule with a similar function. Sukapon was already planned to be an item but was obviously cut for this game, which makes him a perfect candidate. And of course, he appears later in Ultimate as an Assist Trophy. Kamek and Gooey were popular characters on the Smash 2 poll, and Saki got several honorable mentions. Slippy wasn't only popular on the Smash 2 poll but could utilize the Landmaster, similar to Fox and Falco's Final Smash in later games. For his assist, further bringing in more of the Star Fox team. Navarre was one of Sakurai's favorite Fire Emblem characters, and there was a lot of demand for another Fire Emblem character by Japanese fans. Although Ogma was more popular in the Smash 2 poll, any Fire Emblem character as an option was high enough on the list to justify a Sakurai-biased pick. Gooey was also ranked relatively high on the Smash 2 poll, and thus would be included as an assist trophy. Samurai Goroh, Metroid, and Balloon Fighter were mentioned on the poll, but more importantly would become Assist Trophies or stage elements in future Smash titles. Not only would Dr. Wright become an Assist Trophy in later games, but when asked about Dr. Wright on the Newsflash website, Sakurai mentioned that "he had already given Mr. Wright some thought, although not as a fighter." Although Mr. Resetting and Skull Kid would be relatively new characters in this theoretical release timeline for Melee, It's safe to assume they'd appear as Assist Capsules since they were Assist Trophies in later Smash games. Takamaru would also become an Assist Trophy later on and was one of Sakurai's personal far-fetched choices for a fighter, so he'd likely settle for this. Now, let's take a quick look at the trophies. The classic Fox, Falco, Slippy, and Peppy trophies would look a little bit more fleshed out rather than just their Nintendo 64 model rips, and the Star Wolf members including Leon, Pigma, and Andrew would also follow suit. The Classic Ice Climbers trophy would look more like the promo art but as 3D models. Tom Nook would say Animal Crossing instead of future release, and Totakeke— hopefully I'm saying that right— would say KK Slider instead. All regions would have the motion sensor bombs and timed mine item trophies, potentially saying top secret as the source all around. We potentially get additional trophies that weren't in Melee, like trophies for the protagonists from Urban Champion, Punch-Out!! Little Mac and Foreman Spike from Wrecking Crew. For the new fighters, assist capsules, items, etc., of course there would be new trophies to represent those things, so here are some of them that might be added. Among the list of cut features we're aware of, like internet connectivity for downloading news, a trophy battle mode, and 8-player mode, it's hard to imagine any of these actually being realized, so in my imaginary scenario Board the Platforms has returned as a bonus mode instead. Sakurai did bring up that fans were disappointed that didn't make a return, so here it is. In terms of single-player modes, I'd like to walk you through my conceptualization of Adventure Mode if it was a little more fleshed out. Ready? So Mushroom Kingdom would play out like normal, where you have the kind of adventure aspect of it, and then you fight the characters on Peach's Castle. After that, you're gonna jump right into the Minecart Madness stage, fighting Kremlings and Zingers while you're surviving in the cave and avoiding barrels. At this point, you'll either fight two small Donkey Kongs or a Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong duo on Kongo Jungle if you have Diddy unlocked. Then finally, to round out this stage, you'll fight Giant Donkey Kong on Jungle Japes. Underground Maze commences just like it does originally, where you're going underground and then you fight Zelda on the temple stage. And Brinstar also happens normally, where you're escaping before the planet explodes and then fighting Samus. This time though, when you hit Planet Popstar, there's a section before fighting Kirby where you're fighting Gordos, Bronco Berts, Waddle Dees, etc., hitting Star Blocks to remove them from your path, until eventually you find yourself on Green Greens with Whispy fighting a ton of Kirbys. And yes, you'd be fighting the giant Kirby at the end. The Lylat System starts through the asteroid field heading towards Corneria. This stage would be unique to Adventure Mode. Then depending on who you have unlocked, there could be different outcomes fighting either Falco or Wolf with Slippy jumping out as an assist capsule and the Arwings dropping crazy shots all over the place, just like it does in the main game. Then instead of jumping straight to Pokémon Stadium, you're placed along Route 6 from Vermilion City to Saffron City, and you're doing your best to avoid the wild Pokémon in the tall grass. Depending on who you have unlocked, you might have to fight Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Pichu, or Charizard along the way. Depending on who you have unlocked, your difficulty setting, and how quickly you beat this section, you'll either have a ton of Poké Balls and Pokémon characters spawning to fight, or you'll have to face a higher level Mewtwo as a reference to Pokémon Stadium on the Nintendo 64. From here, F-Zero Grand Prix and Onett sections appear as they do normally. Then, when you hit Icicle Mountain, there's a section where your speed can determine how quickly you get to the top, avoiding Polar Bears and Topi along the way. And once you reach it, the Summit stage will load where you'll fight two pairs of Ice Climbers. Stages 11 and 12 will happen as normal, where you fight the Metal Mario Brothers, you fight the wireframe enemies, and you confront Bowser, and potentially Giga Bowser depending on your difficulty setting and the time, and whether or not you used continues. What's incredible though is thanks to the modding community, a lot of these theoretical scenarios are becoming a reality. BrawlMods' Project M and its community update Project Plus is a great example of some of the best that's out there. There's also Remix for Project M, Smash 2, Smash 2 Omega, Akanea for Melee, Beyond Melee, Smash Remix for Smash 64, and a few secret upcoming projects I'll be able to talk about soon. All these public builds will be linked in the description below if you're interested in checking them out. Smash mods help bring these ideas to life, and there is so much talent out there making cool stuff. Please support the scene by checking out their work and throwing kudos their way. So there you have it. What does your vision for an expanded version of Melee look like? I'm looking forward to reading your comments. I read each and every one of them. I will see you guys on the next one.