TSR's Super Smash Bros Thread|SWITCH HYPE TRAIN NOW BOARDING

[Iceman404]

It happens in ALL fighting games: they reach a sizable number of characters, and in order to include fresh characters and ideas, sometimes they are going to do things like remove characters, alter previous mechanics, etc.

To clear things up

Sakurai specifically stated that the 3DS couldn't handle 4 sets of IceClimbers, and so the Wii U had to keep the roster consistent with the inferior portable version. It wasn't for your reason at all.