10 Awesome Video Game Features We Can't Believe Got Cancelled

Nintendo seems rather reluctant to introduce new mechanics to the Super Smash Bros. franchise given the delicate balance of competitive play and how thoroughly everybody loathed the tripping mechanic in Brawl.

But Brawl also almost included another, altogether less-intrusive flourish, with combatants actually receiving visible battle damage over the course of a fight.

Armour and weapons would become noticeably damaged as they were hit - Captain Falcon's helmet could become chipped and Meta Knight's helmet cracked - to the extent that they could actually break and expose the player to additional damage.

Ultimately franchise director Masahiro Sakurai scrapped the idea as he felt it would punish players who managed to hang in the fight for longer.

One also suspects Nintendo probably wasn't too keen on showing the most kiddie-friendly characters like Pikachu with lasting injuries on their body.

Even so, some sort of toggle feature for battle damage, possibly locked behind a parental advisory wall, would be a great compromise for those who'd love to see it.

But Nintendo being Nintendo, there's very little chance this will ever see the light of day unfortunately.