Every Smash Bros Fighter Reveal That Was Leaked Before the Official Announcement
Despite Nintendo’s legendary secrecy, Super Smash Bros. has one of the most dramatic leak histories in all of gaming. From anonymous forum posts dismissed as trolling to voice actors accidentally spilling the beans in interviews, the series has seen its biggest surprises spoiled again and again – often by the most unlikely sources. No verified leaks exist for the original Super Smash Bros. or Melee, since the internet simply wasn’t developed enough for leaks to spread and be documented. Starting with Brawl in 2007, though, the floodgates opened. What follows is every confirmed instance where fighters were revealed to the public before Nintendo was ready – and the wild stories behind each one.
The ChaosZero Leak
In October 2007, a GameFAQs user named ChaosZero posted information about Super Smash Bros. Brawl that he claimed came from an inside source. His leak revealed Lucario, Wolf, and Sonic as newcomers, confirmed the return of Falco, Ness, Captain Falcon, Ganondorf, and Sheik, and correctly predicted that Mewtwo would be cut from the roster. He also leaked the Stage Builder mode, the Dragoon item and its mechanics, and the return of Final Destination.
The response was brutal. GameFAQs users dismissed him as a troll, and moderators treated his posts with open contempt. But when the Dragoon item was officially confirmed exactly as ChaosZero described it, the community’s tone shifted dramatically. He earned the nickname “The Dragoon Prophet” – a title that stuck long after every single one of his claims was verified as correct. The incident became one of the earliest examples of a pattern that would repeat throughout Smash history: legitimate leakers being mocked and ridiculed, only to be vindicated when the game finally launched.
The NyaseNya Leak
NyaseNya was already infamous on SmashBoards as a troll with an obsessive fixation on Peach. So when he posted a thread titled “Brawl Playtest – Massive Spoilers” claiming to have inside knowledge of the game, nobody took him seriously. His leak revealed that Brawl would have 35 playable characters, named Olimar and Toon Link as newcomers, confirmed Captain Falcon, Ness, and Mr. Game & Watch as returning veterans, and correctly stated that neither Mega Man nor Ridley would be playable despite being among the most heavily speculated characters.
Most remarkably, NyaseNya leaked the exact date that Sonic would be officially revealed on – a prediction so specific that getting it right by chance was essentially impossible. But SmashBoards moderator Gimpyfish wasn’t impressed. He locked the thread and edited NyaseNya’s original post to publicly brand him a liar. When Brawl launched and every single claim was proven correct, Gimpyfish faced massive backlash from the community for censoring a legitimate leak. The episode remains one of the most infamous moderator actions in Smash community history.
The ShadowXOR Leak
ShadowXOR stood apart from other Brawl-era leakers because his information came from direct experience – he had actually played a development build of the game. His leak confirmed Marth, Ness, and Captain Falcon as returning fighters, but the claim that attracted the most attention was his insistence that R.O.B. would be a playable newcomer.
The community rejected this outright. R.O.B. had already been shown in Brawl’s promotional material as an enemy in the Subspace Emissary adventure mode, and nearly everyone assumed this meant the character was disconfirmed as playable. The idea that a Subspace enemy could also be a fighter seemed contradictory, and ShadowXOR was treated with even more hostility than ChaosZero or NyaseNya. When Brawl released and R.O.B. was indeed on the roster – as both a playable character and a Subspace enemy – ShadowXOR was fully vindicated. The lesson that an enemy appearance doesn’t rule out playability would become relevant again in later Smash games.
The Wii.com Sticker Video
This leak didn’t come from a forum post or an anonymous insider. It came from Nintendo themselves. On January 18, 2008, a promotional video for Brawl was uploaded to the official Wii website. The video was publicly available the entire weekend before anyone noticed something unusual buried in the footage.
At one point, the video highlights a Groudon sticker and briefly shows which characters can use it to boost their stats in the Subspace Emissary. The character icons visible in the corner included Pikachu, Pokémon Trainer, Lucario, and Jigglypuff – the latter two having not yet been announced. In another frame, a Claus sticker shows Ness’s icon alongside Lucas’s, confirming Ness as a hidden character. When Nintendo realized the mistake, they pulled the video, but the damage was already done. It remains one of the few leaks in Smash history caused entirely by an official oversight rather than any third party.
David Hayter Accidentally Leaks Jigglypuff
Sometimes the biggest leaks come from the most casual moments. During an October 2007 video interview conducted by YouTuber UltraNeko, David Hayter – the iconic voice actor behind Solid Snake – was asked which Brawl character he would most like to beat up. Without hesitation, he answered Jigglypuff.
The problem was that Jigglypuff hadn’t been announced yet. Hayter’s answer could only make sense if he had personal knowledge that Jigglypuff was in the game, which as Snake’s voice actor, he almost certainly did. Users on Neoseeker caught the slip, but the evidence was scattered across YouTube channels that were later deleted or made private. Copies of the original interview survived on Dailymotion and the Internet Archive, preserving one of the most unintentional leaks in Smash history. It’s a perfect example of how even a throwaway answer in a casual interview can spoil what developers spent months keeping secret.
The Gematsu Leaks
The Gematsu leaks represent one of the most sustained and accurate insider leaks in Smash history. Sal Romano, editor of the gaming news site Gematsu, began receiving emails from an anonymous tipster before E3 2013. The source claimed that Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Mega Man, Little Mac, Pac-Man, and Mii Fighter would be playable in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U. Romano initially framed the information as a “prediction” on NeoGAF – then three of the six characters were revealed at E3 2013 exactly as described.
Romano went public about his source and continued receiving updates. Before E3 2014, the tipster added Greninja (described as “Pokémon from X/Y”), Palutena, Shulk, Chrom, and Chorus Kids to the list. Nearly everything proved correct. The only misses – Chrom and Chorus Kids – were later shown through datamining and Sakurai’s own comments to have been genuinely planned before being cut during development. Sakurai confirmed he designed a full moveset for Chrom before rejecting him, and unused data referenced Rhythm Heaven content that matched the Chorus Kids claim. The Gematsu leaks weren’t wrong – they were just too early.
The Jiggensteins Leak
In early May 2014, a GameFAQs user named jiggensteins posted a thread with the straightforward title “Two New Characters.” The post claimed that Lucina and Robin from Fire Emblem: Awakening would both be playable in Smash 4. The leak went further, specifying that Robin would be available in both male and female versions and would fight using magic – details specific enough to be verifiable but broad enough to seem like educated guessing.
Two months later, in July 2014, Nintendo officially revealed both Lucina and Robin with a dedicated trailer. Every detail matched. Robin’s moveset was indeed magic-based, both gender options were available, and Lucina was confirmed as a separate character rather than an alternate costume. The jiggensteins leak is notable for its surgical precision – rather than attempting to leak the entire roster, the poster shared exactly two characters with specific mechanical details, and was completely correct on all counts.
The Ninka/Vaanrose Leak
The Ninka/Vaanrose leak was a collaborative revelation involving multiple independent sources that corroborated the same information. SmashBoards user Ninka Kiwi first surfaced before E3 2014, claiming a friend was playtesting Smash 4. His initial offering was modest – Mario and Charizard had new palette swaps, with Mario specifically getting a blue alt. When E3 confirmed the blue Mario alt, people began paying closer attention.
In July 2014, Ninka released the full payload: Shulk, Dr. Mario, Dark Pit, Bowser Jr. in the Koopa Clown Car with all seven Koopalings as alternate costumes, and Duck Hunt Dog were newcomers. Lucas, Wolf, Ice Climbers, and Snake were cut. A separate source named Vaanrose, known for his work on Project M, independently corroborated through his own Nintendo contact that Robin, Bowser Jr., and Duck Hunt Dog were playable – before Robin had even been announced. The chain of independent verification gave this leak unusual credibility. When the ESRB leak emerged weeks later with matching information, and the Japanese release confirmed everything, the Ninka/Vaanrose network was fully validated.
The Cusco Leak
On August 19, 2014, a 4chan user named Cusco posted two threads on the video game board that would be proven correct within hours. The first teased that the dog from Duck Hunt would be playable, accurately describing that the duck rides on the dog’s back during combat and that the duo’s official name would simply be “Duck Hunt.” The second thread expanded significantly: a 48-character roster excluding Mii Fighters, Lucas, Wolf, Ice Climbers, Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Snake all cut, Dr. Mario returning, Dark Pit, Duck Hunt, Bowser Jr., and Shulk as newcomers, and Dark Pit positioned between Dr. Mario and Lucina on the character select screen as one of three clone characters.
Users mocked and dismissed Cusco’s posts. Hours later that same day, the ESRB leak surfaced with photographic proof confirming every single detail. Cusco’s timing was either extraordinarily lucky or based on the same source material that would produce the ESRB leak – either way, his posts stand as one of the most precisely timed correct leaks in Smash history, buried under ridicule for mere hours before total vindication.
The ESRB Leak
The ESRB leak is the single most significant leak in Super Smash Bros. history. In August 2014, photographs of materials submitted to the Entertainment Software Rating Board for the upcoming Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS surfaced online. These weren’t blurry screenshots or secondhand text posts – they were clear, high-quality images showing the game’s complete character select screen, revealing twelve fighters that had not yet been announced: Jigglypuff, Ness, Ganondorf, Dr. Mario, Falco, Mr. Game & Watch, Wario, R.O.B., Bowser Jr., Duck Hunt, Dark Pit, and Shulk.
The initial reaction was split between believers and skeptics. But when gameplay videos of the leaked characters appeared online, followed by Nintendo of America issuing copyright takedowns on the footage – something they would have no legal basis to do if the content were fake – the leak was effectively confirmed by Nintendo’s own legal department. The official reveal of Shulk days later used the exact same character render visible in the leaked images. One particularly notable detail: the leak included a trophy of the Fire Emblem character Tharja that never appeared in the final game, believed to have been cut to secure a lower content rating. The ESRB leak proved that even the most airtight submission processes can become the source of the biggest spoilers.
The Ganondorf Video Slip
Nintendo leaked Ganondorf themselves, and the evidence suggests they knew it almost immediately. On August 29, 2014, Nintendo posted an official promotional video featuring Pikachu. During a taunting sequence, Ganondorf – who had not yet been formally announced – was clearly visible standing offscreen in the background.
Three days later, on September 1, Nintendo quietly re-uploaded the video. The new version was identical in every way except one: the camera angle had been subtly adjusted so Ganondorf was no longer visible. The original video was unlisted rather than deleted, meaning sharp-eyed fans could still find it with the direct link. This silent correction was effectively a confirmation that the sighting was real, making it one of the few leaks where Nintendo’s attempt at damage control actually provided additional proof.
The Roy and Ryu Datamine
When Nintendo released update 1.0.6 for Super Smash Bros. for 3DS in April 2015, they inadvertently shipped the evidence of their own future plans inside the game’s code. Dataminer shinyquagsire23 discovered unused sound files buried in the update: a victory fanfare tagged “snd_bgm_Z83_F_Roy_3DS” that duplicated the Fire Emblem victory theme, and two files named in direct reference to Ryu from Street Fighter – including Ryu’s actual Street Fighter II theme song. Homebrew developer crediar and the staff of The Cutting Room Floor independently confirmed the findings.
The situation escalated dramatically on June 13, 2015. An administrator of The VG Resource named Random Talking Bush managed to download the upcoming 1.0.8 update from Nintendo’s servers before it was scheduled to release. He proceeded to extract and post the complete DLC content on Twitter: official artwork, costumes, trophies, and ending videos for both Roy and Ryu. Later that day, crediar streamed himself playing as the unreleased characters by loading their files over Mario’s data. Nintendo issued copyright takedowns across YouTube, including against major channels like GameXplain. The next day, June 14, Roy and Ryu were officially announced – exactly as the datamine had predicted two months earlier.
The Vergeben Leaks
No single leaker has had a longer or more accurate track record with Super Smash Bros. than Vergeben. Beginning in May 2018, this GameFAQs and Reddit user posted information from what he claimed were reliable sources about the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Over the following two years, his claims would prove correct with remarkable consistency.
His initial posts correctly predicted Ridley, Simon Belmont, Isabelle, Incineroar, and Ken as newcomers, as well as every veteran returning. As Ultimate’s DLC program unfolded, Vergeben continued delivering: Banjo & Kazooie, Hero, Terry Bogard, and Steve from Minecraft were all called before their official reveals. He also correctly ruled out numerous fan-requested characters like Decidueye, Lycanroc, and Isaac as playable, predicting Isaac’s return as an Assist Trophy instead. While no leaker bats a thousand – some of Vergeben’s vaguer claims about specific DLC placements were inexact – his core predictions about which characters would appear were proven right so consistently that his posts became required reading for anyone following Ultimate’s reveal cycle.
The E3 2018 4chan Leak
The day before Nintendo’s E3 2018 presentation, an anonymous 4chan user posted what appeared to be yet another fabricated roster leak. The claims seemed almost too good to be true: every previous character would return, Wolf would be heavily redesigned, Daisy and Ridley would be newcomers, the game would be called “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,” it would release on December 7, 2018, and clone characters would receive a special icon next to their names.
True to tradition, the post was mocked as obvious trolling. When the Nintendo Direct aired the next day and confirmed virtually every detail – “Everyone is here,” Ridley and Daisy revealed, the exact title and release date, and the new Echo Fighter classification system – the 4chan thread became an instant piece of Smash leak history. The leaker made a few minor errors, like claiming Lucas was an Echo Fighter and slightly misidentifying Inkling’s Final Smash, but these are believed to be misinterpretations rather than fabrications, since the same user also correctly predicted Super Mario Party’s title and gameplay style from the same E3.
The Castlevania Music Rename
The night before the August 2018 Nintendo Direct that would reveal Simon and Richter Belmont from Castlevania, Nintendo accidentally spoiled their own announcement through a metadata error on YouTube. A previously uploaded music video on the official Super Smash Bros. channel – the Galaga Medley – was briefly renamed to “Bloody Tears / Monster Dance,” both iconic tracks from Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest.
The rename was quickly corrected back to “Galaga Medley,” but screenshots had already been captured and shared. When the Direct aired the following morning and revealed Simon and Richter alongside their Castlevania stage and music, the connection was unmistakable. The incident prompted Nintendo to change their entire approach to the music preview system: from that point forward, all upcoming music uploads were titled with sequential numbers rather than song names, specifically to prevent this type of accidental reveal from happening again. A single metadata slip had forced a permanent change to Nintendo’s content management strategy.
The PracticalBrush12 Leaks
PracticalBrush12 had already established credibility by correctly leaking Persona 5 Strikers, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Pokémon Sword and Shield including its DLC, and Diablo IV. So when this Reddit user posted specific details about upcoming Smash reveals minutes before they aired, the gaming community paid attention.
On January 16, 2020, ten minutes before the broadcast, PracticalBrush12 revealed that Byleth from Fire Emblem: Three Houses would be the next DLC fighter, available in male and female versions, wielding the Sword of the Creator alongside three other weapons: the Areadbhar, Aymr, and Failnaught. The post also mentioned a Cuphead Mii Fighter costume. Every detail was confirmed when the Direct aired. Nine months later, PracticalBrush12 struck again – posting roughly thirty minutes before the October 2020 reveal that Steve from Minecraft would be announced alongside Alex, Zombie, and Enderman as alternate skins, with a piston-based Final Smash. Once again, everything was correct. What made PracticalBrush12 unique wasn’t just accuracy – it was the surgical timing, consistently posting just minutes before reveals in a way that suggested access to embargoed press materials or advance broadcast feeds.
