Nintendo has revealed that their upcoming brawler title Super Smash Bros. will not be featuring GamePad support, in an effort to keep the game balanced between the four player support.

Speaking with Polygon, director Masahiro Sakurai explained that "the idea with Smash Bros., you have four players come together, and it's a fair playing field." "The idea of having one person with this special controller and special features that are only available to the gamepad player flies in the face of that. Right now, we're not adding any additional [GamePad] functionality at all."

Sakurai also added that the choice for no GamePad support for Super Smash Bros. was due to the game "being a four-player game we want people to be on equal footing. That's our main philosophy when it comes to control features."

Super Smash Bros. will be available in 2014 on both Wii U and 3DS. Sadly cross-play support has been ruled out between the platforms.

Would be nice to have the gamepad maybe display a scoreboard or something but the game is a 4 player arena so there's no need for it.

So that means it won't support playing the game remotely on the pad then either?

I'd say it makes it more likely to happen, as there won't be any game elements that depend on the pad's screen being used with the TV.

Couldnt they use the pad for a special mode (5 player? or 4 players with one on pad) sort of like a real time DM, selecting items, enemies, stage changes/mods, rescues etc etc?

So that means it won't support playing the game remotely on the pad then either?

I'd say this news means it's almost guaranteed to support off-screen play. If it's not using the gamepad for any unique features, they don't lose anything with off-screen play.

It's not like the screen will just be blank. Look at New Super Mario Bros. U. It doesn't do anything other than mirror the TV. Smash Bros. will probably be the same.

ok so I don't have one.. but i was wondering, does that mean you have to have the remote with the screen for each additional person? .. doesn't that thing cost like 200 bucks?

Look at New Super Mario Bros. U. It doesn't do anything other than mirror the TV. Smash Bros. will probably be the same.

http://www.mariowiki.com/Boost_Mode

ok so I don't have one.. but i was wondering, does that mean you have to have the remote with the screen for each additional person? .. doesn't that thing cost like 200 bucks?

No, they're saying it won't take advantage of the Wii U GamePad's features. So other players can use Wii Remotes (and attachments) or Wii U Pro Controllers.
Also, no Wii U game to date requires the use of multiple WiiU GamePads.