"Super Smash Bros." developer Masahiro Sakurai initially wanted Marth to be part of the roster for the original game, but time constraints prevented this. The developers of "Super Smash Bros. Melee" originally intended to make Marth playable only in the Japanese version of the game, but when he garnered favorable attention during the game's North American localization, they decided to keep both him and fellow "Fire Emblem" protagonist Roy in the North American and European versions. Sakurai redesigned the character for "Super Smash Bros. Brawl", where he was included as a playable character alongside other "Fire Emblem" protagonists. By this time, Marth had also been redesigned for "Shadow Dragon", with Sakurai being shocked when he saw it. He commented that, if he had known earlier, he would have incorporated the new design into the game rather than his own. Marth's later appearances in the "Super Smash Bros." series were brought in line with his design from "New Mystery of the Emblem".