The Ice Climbers Were Cut From Smash Bros. Due to 3DS Hardware Limitations

[Scarim Coral]

So let get this straight, they favour a new character like Duck Hunt Dog over an character already establist in the previous game. The dog better be good (or at least better than the Ice Climber) or that we really are going to see an upcoming new Duck Hunt game.

 

[SD-Fiend]

I personally wouldn't have minded if they made them a unique character for the Wii U and gave the 3DS someone else or if the made them a New!3DS exclusive but I understand Sakurai not wanting too many differences between the games so that people wouldn't feel like they were missing something by not getting both. That and it's pretty easy to imagine people getting upset if they were New! 3DS exlusive. People would claim that they were being held hostage so Nintendo could sell more units or something.
Also:

Spoiler: Learn the Difference Between A.I.

Spoiler: This is mostly irrelevant but it really makes me wish the developers were more out there with the costumes and skins

 

[Jacked Assassin]

No one has posted this yet?....

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=243

 

[FoolKiller]

I played the ice climbers. I will be sad to see them go.

And I'm definitely not a fan of having one game dictate how the other one is.

 

[TheEvilCheese]

I don't miss IC from a personal perspective, and I can see why they were cut, but it still feels disappointing.

Was it a space issue? That's the one that sticks out most to me. How much can a 3DS cart hold? (If it's under 1.8 GB, maybe Ninty should have gone with UMDs. *insert trollface here*)

It's not a space issue, as pointed out above Ice Climbers have been known to cause slowdown on old versions of the game (which weren't on underpowered hardware like the 3DS) and there's a big push for reliable 60FPS in this version.

There's room in the cartridges for far more space than any game has used so far, if Nintendo want to use it. Same as how brawl was the first dual layered wii game.

 

[Winthrop]

To my understanding, the 3DS is pretty much a miniaturized GameCube, right?, so to be honest, this "hardware limitation" thing kinda smells fishy.

But w/e, I hated the Ice Climbers anyways.

Sakurai mentioned that the team couldn't get them working a few times over the course of development, so it wasn't a huge shocker for me when they weren't in. I also wonder if the 0-death chain grabs played a role. But as others have said, they could slow down games before and with them trying to keep this at 60fps cutting them may have been the only option.

 

[Leemaster777]

Considering I don't own a Wii U, I don't have the money to afford buying one right now, but I do have a 3DS, I think I can live with this if it means I actually get to PLAY the game.

If Ice Climbers had to be sacrificed on the altar of Sakurai in order for all this to happen, so be it. Considering the strength of this roster, I say we more than made up for their loss in new stuff.

I DO feel for anyone who mained Ice Climbers. I really do. I was getting nervous as hell that my main, Mr Game and Watch, wouldn't be returning, so I wouldn't wish the loss of a main on anyone. At least they guys who mained Wolf and Lucas have Fox and Ness to fall back on.