Nintendo was considering a port of Smash Bros. Melee to the Wii before Brawl was decided on

Super Smash Bros. Melee is one of the most beloved, if not the most beloved installment in the Smash Bros. series, and it’s still played to this day. Plenty of fans would be perfectly happy if Nintendo kept re-releasing Melee year after year, and at one point in their history, Nintendo was planning to do this as well.

As you know, Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the Wii’s installment in Nintendo’s super-popular fighting franchise. Brawl was steered by none other than Masahiro Sakurai, who was an independent developer at the time. Nintendo and Sakurai managed to come to an agreement to make Brawl happen, but Nintendo had another plan if that collaboration didn’t come about.

The late Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s former president, was already thinking about what Nintendo could do if Sakurai didn’t want to work on a new Smash installment for the Wii. Apparently, the plan would have been to do a port of Melee to the Wii! We don’t know if that port would have been updated/enhanced in any way, but it’s a moot point anyway, as Sakurai and Nintendo came to an agreement.

So yes, in some alternate timeline out there, the Wii got a port of Smash Bros. Melee. I bet a number of people would be 100% fine living in that timeline!