When Super Smash Bros came out for the 3DS, several patches came out that changed the balance of the game. Smash communities worked hard to record all the changes for every character. Some were profound. Some were tiny and barely noticeable. It appeared as if Nintendo was making an honest attempt to keep this new Smash balanced.
Now it looks like our hopes were a bit premature on that front, as Nintendo has said that they have no plans to further adjust or balance the game. If there are glaring issues or problems with online play, director Masahiro Sakurai has stated that he will try to address them, however, there will be no further patches to address game balance in general.
This is actually a little disappointing, as it has only been a few months since the game came out and tier lists are already starting to form in a particularly profound way. Diddy Kong, for example, is considered easily one of the best characters in the game, while Lucina and Marth are some of the worst. Without balance patches to bring these tiers closer together, we may once again see a “no items, Fox only, Final Destination” sort of situation coming up, this time with a monkey instead of a fox.
Source: Eventhubs