Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai has confirmed that the upcoming games for Wii U and 3DS won't have story modes or CG cutscenes.
The last Smash Bros. game, Brawl, featured a robust single-player story mode called Subspace Emissary, but it was a huge undertaking, and fans uploaded its movie scenes to the Internet.
"You can only truly wow a player the first time he sees [a cutscene]," said Sakurai in his biweekly column in Weekly Famitsu. "I felt if players saw the cutscenes outside of the game, they would no longer serve as rewards for playing the game, so I've decided against having them."
Sakurai has instead focused on new character introductory videos for the Villager, Mega Man, and the Wii Fit Trainer (all newcomers) and possibly others. (Olimar and the Pikmin were the latest new contenders to be revealed.)
The 3DS version will, however, contain a feature that will "act as a separate mode from the standard versus play." I can imagine this is because it will be harder to get players together for matches on 3DS than console, where friends can easily huddle around the same television. (Sakurai didn't get to talk about online play, which is another issue entirely.)
Aside from aesthetic differences, the Wii U version will include stages modeled around console game releases while the 3DS version highlights areas from handheld titles. Super Smash Bros. will also allow for some measure of character customization, which will influence performance.
Source: Kotaku