18 Years Ago, Pokémon Officially Replaced Mewtwo

First introduced in Pokémon‘s beloved Generation 1, the Legendary Mewtwo was created through genetic experimentation using DNA from the Mythical Pokémon, Mew, resulting in a devastatingly powerful creature that quickly became one of the franchise’s most recognizable Mon. Its unsettling origin helped distinguish Mewtwo from Pokémon that existed “naturally” within the world, giving it a somewhat tragic backstory and establishing a complicated relationship with humanity.

Mewtwo’s popularity soon extended far beyond the original games. It became the central antagonist of Pokémon: The First Movie — Mewtwo Strikes Back, was later featured in follow-up projects including Mewtwo Returns, and has continued appearing throughout Pokémon’s games, anime, movies, trading cards, and various crossovers.

However, even a Pokémon as iconic as Mewtwo has not always been guaranteed a place in the spotlight. Eighteen years ago, one major release officially replaced Mewtwo with another controversial character in a decision that fans still lament nearly two decades later.

Pokémon Did Mewtwo Dirty In This Fan-Favorite 2008 Release

When Super Smash Bros. Brawl arrived in 2008, one of its most noticeable roster changes was the disappearance of Mewtwo. The Legendary Pokémon had been playable in Super Smash Bros. Melee, but despite Pokémon remaining a major part of Brawl and fans expecting a comeback, Mewtwo did not return. Instead, the game introduced Lucario, another Psychic-adjacent, humanoid Pokémon fighter that immediately drew comparisons to its predecessor.

For many fans, Lucario was an extremely disappointing Mewtwo replacement. Both occupied similar territory within the Pokémon portion of the roster, and Lucario’s Aura Sphere was equally as OP as Mewtwo’s Shadow Ball. Their overall movesets were actually quite different, but the combination of Mewtwo disappearing and Lucario debuting made it seem like Nintendo simply tried to swap one popular Pokémon for another. That decision proved controversial, with Mewtwo’s removal generating significant fan backlash despite the character not being considered especially strong competitively in Melee.

There is an important wrinkle, however, as data-mined Brawl files suggested Mewtwo may originally have been planned to return alongside Lucario rather than being directly replaced, which triggered a wave of speculation among players as to what could’ve been. Leftover files include Mewtwo-related effects, victory music, and even Wii Remote selection data, indicating development on the character had progressed pretty significantly before it was cut.

While Lucario wasn’t a literal one-for-one replacement as opposed to the character who effectively filled the void Mewtwo left behind, it would’ve been nice to see Mewtwo return as a more viable character option in addition to Lucario.

Mewtwo’s Replacement Was Understandable, If Disappointing

As disappointing as Mewtwo’s absence was, the circumstances surrounding Super Smash Bros. Brawl make the decision easier to understand. Director Masahiro Sakurai later confirmed that several fighters planned for the game were cut during development because there simply was not enough time to include everything.

Brawl‘s unused data provides further evidence of how much roster experimentation took place, with remnants associated with characters such as Mewtwo and Roy surviving in the finished game. Sakurai has also said Wolf came close to being cut entirely, while Wolf, Toon Link, and Jigglypuff were added so late in development that they weren’t incorporated into The Subspace Emissary’s main story.

Mewtwo’s leftover files included character-specific effects, victory music, and Wii Remote selection data, supporting the long-held belief that a playable version was being worked on before ultimately being dropped. Fans discussing the cut have pointed to time constraints as the most likely explanation rather than a simple decision to discard Mewtwo in favor of Lucario (via Reddit).

Choosing Lucario for the final roster still made plenty of sense. It was a contemporaneous Gen-4 Pokémon addition, brought the distinctive Aura mechanic to Smash, and gave Brawl a fresh face rather than another returning fighter. With development resources clearly stretched across an ambitious game, prioritizing something new over completing Mewtwo was defensible.

It was still a somewhat disappointing outcome for anyone hoping Melee‘s Legendary Pokémon fighter would get another chance, but the overall Brawl experience still ended up being a hit in the grand scheme of things.