(DJ Octavio)
(Noah)
Reasons
I’ll start off with Mario, Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Splatoon as they are Nintendo’s primary franchises (barring Pokemon, but I’ll get to that later). For these franchises, I could see them all having at least two or three fighters, Super Mario gets the original Mario
Party playable cast and Bowser, Legend of Zelda gets at least two of the triforce, Animal Crossing gets Villager and Isabelle given their prominence and appearance in Mario Kart 8, and Splatoon gets Inkling and DJ Octavio in this scenario.
Next, I’ll go into relevant franchises that somewhat hinge on SSB’s history. In this case, I’d assume at least Pikmin, Metroid, Kirby, and Mii would be represented with a playable fighter.
Now, I’ll go into the more complex series: Fire Emblem and Pokemon. In the case of Fire Emblem, I still think Balzing sword and Sacred Stones would be released internationally based on Advance Wars’ sales, but I think that Telius snd Shadow Dragon would be Japanese exclusive as the GBA games would’ve fared worse without Melee. I still think Awakening would’ve saved the series as its success didn’t seem to hinge of Brawl or For. In this case, I’ll choose Chrom or Lucina, who would probably be the closest thing to a mascot.
For Xenoblade, it seems that it’s success was mostly independent of SSBFor, so I’ll keep a character here. I’ll make a guess and say that they’ll go with a newer character, and I’ll choose Noah.
For the last fighter, I’ll choose Min Min as I think Nintendo would want to show off ARMS.
In the case of Pokemon, I’d think The Pokemon Company would want to wait before allowing any pokemon to join the roster at first.
DLC: DLC is a risky move, but I think this list of 5 fighters would work well.
Fox gives a dormant, yet historically significant franchise a chance.
Depending on the success of this game, I think the Pokemon Company would be open to DLC, and I’ll have Pikachu and Charizard as a packaged deal here.
To help build third party relationships, Sonic and Pac-Man join.