Ditto has a portrait in Melee

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/75244476.jpg
This is so crazy man

actually this is a smash 6 leak

Yes. It was also going to be a pokeball summon back then and function the way it does in Ultimate, but they scrapped it late in development due to performance issues. In fact it was so late that the Nintendo Power guidebook lists it as one of the pokemon that can appear. You can force it to show up with the debug menu, but it will just make a sound and vanish instantly.

I've always felt like Ditto should've been a character who transforms into a different random character each stock. Would be a cool twist on the random button.

JustaSandwich posted...

I've always felt like Ditto should've been a character who transforms into a different random character each stock. Would be a cool twist on the random button.

Agreed, a mimic-type character that functions like Mokujin from Tekken or Charade from Soul Calibur would be awesome to see in Smash. That being said, we already have enough Pokemon reps at this point, so I think if they were to implement a mimic-type character like that, there's a better character they can use besides Ditto: Dark Matter from the Kirby franchise. Dark Matter also has the ability to transform into other characters (or rather, shadow versions of them) and the Kirby franchise hasn't gotten a new playable rep since Brawl.