Remember when Nintendo of America censored the character Tharja in the Fire Emblem: Awakening DLC? If rumour is to be believed — and we should stress that this is very much a rumour — then the same thing has happened in Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 3DS.

Tharja was apparently supposed to be in the game as a trophy, and pre-release screenshots have been found online — apparently leaked by the ESRB (and shown below) — which back up this claim. However, the game is now available in Japan, North America and Europe, and none of those versions contain any trace of the aforementioned trophy.

Conjecture suggests that Nintendo removed Tharja because her clothing is too revealing and would have forced the game into a higher age rating bracket, thus limiting the total audience it could potentially reach. We're not sure we totally buy this story, as some of the other female characters in the game are arguably just as scantily-clad.

We really can't stress enough that this is all unconfirmed speculation at this stage — but what are your thoughts? If this is true, why is Nintendo treating Tharja in such a shoddy fashion? Sound off in the comments below.

Thanks to Eiffel65 for sending this in.