Nintendo accidentally confirms Lucario, Ness, Jigglypuff for Brawl

by Scott Jon Siegel { Jan 21st 2008 at 7:00AM }

A small slip-up on the Nintendo of Japan website has revealed three previously unannounced characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Fan favorites Ness and Jigglypuff will be returning from the previous Smash Bros. titles, while the pokémon Lucario will also be joining the ever-growing ranks.

Nintendo of Japan recently posted a 5-minute video explaining the many features of Brawl. In one section of the video, the sticker-collecting feature is shown off. A small set of icons along the bottom shows which character can equip each sticker, and originally showed small icons depicting Ness, Jigglypuff, and Lucario.

Nintendo of Japan has since updated the video, conspicuously whiting out these icons and effectively assuring us that this is "for real." More than simply confirming new characters, this news also confirms that the Brawl roster will exceed those characters announced on the official blog, which is just good news for everybody. Check out the original, unedited footage after the break. The icons appear very briefly around 4:20.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Tags: brawl, breaking-news, breakingnews, earthbound, pokemon, smash-bros-brawl, smashbrosbrawl, ssbb, super-smash-bros-brawl

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Sabbrewolf @ Jan 24th 2008 6:09AM

Uhm. Doesn't anyone notice that that's the Pokemon Trainer's face? Anyone? Anyone at all? Also.. Why the crap would Ness be in the game when Lucas is the exact same practically. Aren't they done with clone characters?

Sabbrewolf @ Jan 24th 2008 6:16AM

Nevermind. Taken in a proper context yes. It is Ness beside Lucas in the right picture. Bloody hell I hate clone characters. If he plays the same as last time I'll be damn irritated. May as well put Shadow the Hedgehog, Silver, Marth, Roy, Captain Falcon, Gannondorf, and FEMALE POKEMON TRAINER since it looks like brawl is going to be "Attack of the Clones" now.

Mark @ Jan 24th 2008 1:55PM

CMON GUYS IT'S NESS IT'S NOT POKEMON TRAINER!!!!! When the cursor is over the pokemon all of the pokemon appear at the bottom. But when the cursor is over a sticker that looks like a lucas, lucas and ness appear at the bottom. Nate there are two separate picures, cmon dude think clearly.

BG Big Max @ Jan 24th 2008 4:24PM

Well as I recall Ness's moveset (PK Thunder/fire) were moves he didn't actually have in the Mother games. So it makes sense to revamp Ness, keep some of his psychic powers and change others to be more true to Ness. It's sort of like taking Ganondorf and giving him more Ganondorf-like moves. I don't see anyone complaining about that. So Lucas will be more of an offensive Psychic character, and Ness will be more defensive, as they were in the games.

On a related note, I heard something about Megaman, now I am not looking forward to that at all, but anyone hear anything about him?

demonbunnie @ Jan 24th 2008 7:55PM

One character that I'm surprised hasn't made it into the smash bro's universe yet is Captain N the game master. If you think about it, he'd be perfect for the game. Also Captain N rawks *nod*

Mark @ Jan 25th 2008 12:34PM

I hear Megaman isn't in brawl.

NinjaBlobMan @ Jan 28th 2008 12:34AM

seriously why do people think ness is so good? someone like marth or anyone with actual arms can destroy him before ness gets close. i promise to beat all ness fans with jigglypuff in brawl. i will admit he was one of the best in ssb tho

Kirby4030 @ Jan 25th 2008 1:25AM

nintendo, I love you.
Lucario is my absolute favorite pokemon, and also the first I leveled up to 100.
but include Darkrai, and this game would be the sickest thing ever (in a good way)
even as a pokeball he would be awesome.

Homsar36 @ Jan 25th 2008 10:48PM

I dunno, unless you're using your imagination the Pokemon one's kindda look like a balck check mark and an old man. The one with Ness is clearer, but the mark next to it looks like a smudge...

JohnStevens @ Jan 26th 2008 9:36AM

Hmm, I don't know if anyone else has pointed this out, and I don't want to be the one to crush such solid-looking proof of Ness's return, but I don't think that little picture is of Ness. Get a closer look at it: it's Pokemon Trainer. Very similar-looking red cap, but you can see the little white insignia. Plus, it makes more sense that way, right? It's a pokemon sticker (Groudon/Groundon/however it's spelled), and it can only be stuck on Pokemon (Pikachu, Lucario, and Jigglypuff) as well as whoever this red-capped character is. Shouldn't that be Trainer instead of Ness, logically?

On another note, it's worth noticing that there IS space for one more character face to the right of Jigglypuff, but nobody's there. Does that mean that these four are the only Pokemon characters?

drummerjoe93 @ Jan 26th 2008 10:17AM

hey people that are saying Ness sucked in previous games. You may not like his playing style cause it's clumsy. I didn't either until I found he can throw like a b*tch and yes, his double jump is there, but it isn't the greatest when you go up against better opponents. But I don't think they're putting him in this game. cause they got Lucas, who's the exact same person. They got rid of stale characters like Falco and Pichu.

Arian Moulayi @ Jan 26th 2008 2:00PM

Yeah, too bad I don't have a Wii T.T. But I still can't wait for when it comes out since several of my friends DO have Wiis! ;D

ToXic Isa @ Jan 26th 2008 10:34PM

haha yaya i dont know wtf ness is but he's in

Saeven @ Jan 28th 2008 9:35PM

Why in the world would one have windwaker link in brawl? It makes no sense. Young link was pretty much a clone of link. And the graphics would completely not match. Now, why in the world would you not have Ganondorf in there? Come on! The Triforce. Not having Link, Zelda, and Ganon together is like having Kirby and Dee Dee without Metaknight. Okay, bad example. But you do get my point. I just hope they changed Ganon enough where he's his own. There will hopefully be no clones in this game. (OH, and Lucario, that is just so cool. He'll be kind of like mewtwo. He won't talk and say his name he'll make his own noises and sounds. That is going to be so cool. What would his final smash be, I wonder? Aura Sphere?)

FoxURA @ Jan 29th 2008 4:28AM

Am I the only one that noticed the ears on that Pokemon are a bit too long for it to be Pikachu? Oddly enough they seem to be just the right length for it to be Pichu...

Just remember! You saw it here first!

Also, here is something else I found out about from a friend...

http://www.sonicandpals.com/SapBoard/viewtopic.php?t=423

sean @ Feb 3rd 2008 2:36AM

Okay these are the definate secret characters in Brawl:

Lucario
Ness
Jigglypuff
Marth
Mr Game and watch
Luigi
Falco
Ganon
Young Link (Wind Waker)
R.O.B
Captain Falcon
Wolf

Don't believe me? http://www.serebii.net/index2.shtml

look a little bit down on the page and you'll see a bubble thing that says show picture click it and it will come up with a character roster from the japanese version of the game

Naota @ Jan 21st 2008 7:09AM

sweet, I hope Ness is really in it.

hi2u @ Jan 21st 2008 8:18AM

So do I (in case you haven't guessed by my avatar).

ViagraFiend @ Jan 21st 2008 11:01AM

They had to include Ness. He was by far the best in the past 2 games.

hi2u @ Jan 21st 2008 2:38PM

He was definitely the best (that is, indisputably overpowered) in the first installment.

Jtenma @ Jan 21st 2008 2:41PM

Are you guys serious? Is this nostalgia for him, or do you guys actually like playing with his awkward/clumsy fighting style. Not to mention he has one major flaw...no double jump. But really over all those "other" characters...whatever we'll see online!

hi2u @ Jan 21st 2008 2:50PM

He certainly did have a "double jump," at least in the original. The "up + special" PK projectile, when aimed correctly, made it possible for Ness to cover more distance than any other double jump in the game in fact. Although this ability might seem initially awkward or demanding in light of the relative simplicity of the other characters' double jumps, it provided incredibly powerful once mastered.

Mr Khan @ Jan 21st 2008 2:50PM

Much like they overpowered (IMO) Game and Watch in Melee (he definitely had some lethal moves, and if you knew how to use Oil Panic, you could annihilate people) because he was the hardest secret character to earn, so they did to Ness in original

Ben @ Jan 21st 2008 5:13PM

@Jtenma
I agree Ness seemed awkward or clumsy, but if you actually got used to playing him, he's one of the most powerful characters... I could never play him well, but I've been owned many times by people who could, at least in the original N64 Smash game.

whymog @ Jan 21st 2008 7:17AM

I'm really curious how many characters we'll have available in Brawl. Luigi was accidentally confirmed in an earlier interview if I remember correctly, so that brings the total so far to 28 (not counting Sheik, of course.) How many were there in Melee? I don't think more than 24.

Poisoned Al @ Jan 21st 2008 7:42AM

I hope not. There's only so many you can have before the character moves get samey.

John Foozmich @ Jan 21st 2008 8:16AM

There were 25 in Melee, and 12 in the N64 one, so let's say there's going to be 50 in this one, then 100 in the next one, then TWO hundred...

Sensai @ Jan 21st 2008 8:21AM

26 if you include Sheik. 25 characters to choose on the actual screen.

StrangeBum @ Jan 21st 2008 9:11AM

I think it was actually 25 in Melee. The 14 mains plus the 11 unlockables. But still, this game is offering way more in terms of character choice. Which I'm sure a lot of them will seem stale, but addition like Pokemon Trainer should add some new tactic to things.

Super stoked for this game.

Mr Khan @ Jan 21st 2008 11:30AM

Legend says 44 characters, apparently leaked by a beta tester, but his tally included such unlikely characters as Jajamaru (japan only, 3rd party), and Knuckles

Chase @ Jan 21st 2008 7:40AM

Someone tell Lucario I can see its camel toe.

ThornedVenom @ Jan 21st 2008 8:21AM

Your avatar rules.

Jay @ Jan 21st 2008 8:38AM

God, you made me go back and look

ThornedVenom @ Jan 21st 2008 8:21AM

God bless Youtube.

WiNG @ Jan 21st 2008 8:25AM

This is a list circulating GameFAQs right now. I cannot vouch for its accuacy but it did predict Lucario, Ness, Jigglypuff before this leak:

Donkey Kong series

Donkey Kong
Diddy Kong

Star Fox series

Fox
Falco
Wolf

Kirby series

Kirby
Meta Knight
King Dedede

F-Zero series

Captain Falcon

Metroid series

Samus
Zero Suit Samus

MOTHER series

Ness
Lucas

Pokémon series

Pikachu
Jigglypuff
Pokémon Trainer
Lucario

Legend of Zelda series

Link
Zelda
Sheik
Ganondorf
Young Link (from The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass)

Super Mario series

Mario
Luigi
Peach
Bowser

Yoshi's series

Yoshi

Fire Emblem series

Marth
Ike

Game & Watch series

Mr. Game & Watch

Ice Climber series

Ice Climbers

WarioWare series

Wario

Metal Gear series

Snake

Kid Icarus series

Pit

Nintendo series

R.O.B.

Sonic the Hedgehog series

Sonic

Pikmin series

Pikmin & Olimar

samfish @ Jan 21st 2008 9:47AM

I'll be pissed if that's the final list.

Why would they go with Wolf over Krystal? Do you NEED 3 characters who handle nearly identically?

ROB is just fuckin' stupid.

And Lucas already has Ness's moveset.

Anyhow, I don't buy that being the final list. Wolf and ROB make it too unbelievable...and the people circulating that list have done nothing to prove their credibility, other than speak affirmatively and say, "trust me".
...at least on Neogaf.

TheOverlord#2 @ Jan 27th 2008 10:40PM

R.O.B. isnt in...he is what the Subspace Emissary uses to place the bombs...(that is...unless he's an unlockable...though how would he attack? i can see his jumping/running(using his wheel set from Mario Kart DS))

Lijik @ Jan 21st 2008 10:31AM

Jigglypuff and Ness are bound to appear on nearly any "Final" roster since they were in the past games, and rumors of Lucario being in the game as been around almost as long, if not longer, than the blog has.

I don't see how a few obvious choices makes an entire list confirmable

ChowFahn @ Jan 21st 2008 10:50AM

ROB has been seen in a video as an Assist Trophy, so that list is fake.

Mr.ESC @ Jan 21st 2008 11:35AM

I hope that's not it, where the hell is Dr Robotnik, Tails, Knuckles, Amy? I really don't give a crap about the rest of the characters of the Sonic series, including shadow but they at least have to include Tails.

Captain Falcon is a must.

Weird they choose Lucario, maybe is going to replace Mewtwo in this one, I mean we have Ness and Lucas we don't need more psychics do we?

I want Bowser Jr as a playable character.