Smashchu, just because Sakurai said no to Nintendogs doesn't mean all dogs cannot be in Smash. Nintendogs are based on real life puppies. That is why they look like real life puppies. If you were to pit a real life puppy against the likes of Mario and Donkey Kong, well, you know the poor thing is a dead puppy walking. This is likely the reason why Sakurai didn't add Nintendogs as playable characters.
The Duck Hunt dog is not a real life hunting dog. He is an anthromorphic cartoon hunting dog who can walk on two legs (he ran and jumped with two legs in Vs. Duck Hunt) and has opposable thumbs (since he is able to pick up ducks with his paws instead of his mouth like real life dogs do) and can survive getting shot in the face (since he yelled at you for shooting him instead of the ducks in Vs. Duck Hunt). I think that it is more plausible for a cartoon hunting dog to take on the likes of Mario and Donkey Kong than it is for a real life puppy.
"It's so different because the dog from Duck Hunt (which no one cares about) is actually a cartoon, so it's totally OK now right?" Mario is cartoony. Why don't we make up what ever moves we want for him?
It doesn't matter how cartoony he is. He is just a
DOG. The thing you don't understand is you have to stay true to the character. You can't go and make stuff up. Go back and play Duck Hunt. In the game, the dog acted like any other dog, just that he picked up ducks and laughed if you messed up. Nothing he does in the game can be turned into fighting moves nor does it constitute a fighter. It wouldn't make sense for him to throw punches because that's not what he does (why you also don't see weapon characters punch a lot). You can't have him use the light gun because that would be very much outside his character. You can't make him bite or scratch as he never did that and would be changing him from a funny dog to an aggressive dog.
Based on your logic, we might as well have K.K. Slider as a character because he is a cartoon dog. Animal Crossing is more popular anyway.
Nintendogs may be more popular but they aren't practical as Smash fighters since they are just real life puppies. It would be more controversial if we had Nintendogs playable and Nintendo would be accused of promoting animal cruelty. They would be a joke character, only worse.
And somehow a dog that has only appeared in one game that did just about as much as the Nintendogs is somehow more practical.
Having the Duck Hunt dog playable in Smash will attract negative attention at first, yes. Even Mr. Game & Watch and the beloved R.O.B. received negative attention when they were introduced in Melee/Brawl. But in time, people will forget about that and enjoy the game and some of them might even become fans of the Duck Hunt dog like they did with Mr. Game & Watch and R.O.B. He is a far less controversial choice since a lot of people actually want to hurt him. And he, at least, is capable of fighting on two legs like a humanoid if the developers choose to.
Sakurai's first rule on adding characters is they have to make people want to play the game. Adding in a character who attracts negative attention would go against that. Hell, if we are going to do that, might as well have Tingle instead of some generic dog.
Neither Mr. Game and Watch nor R.O.B. were hated. Fanboys didn't like R.O.B. because they wanted X character, but everyone else was OK with it and expected something like that.
Also, explain how he is capable of fighting on two legs?
One last thing, popularity is not the only factor. More people wanted Ridley, Midna, and Krystal in Brawl and they got Zero Suit Samus, Toon Link, and Wolf instead. Many people wanted Isaac, Samurai Goroh, and Lyn and they all ended up as Assist Trophies. Even if the majority voted for Nintendogs over the Duck Hunt dog, there is still a good chance the Duck Hunt dog could get in over them because he has moveset potential... kinda like why the Ice Climbers got in over Balloon Fighter, Bubbles, Excitebike, and Urban Champion.
What moveset potential!? All he did was catch ducks and laugh at you. What moveset potential does he have. We might as well have Sheriff from the old arcade game then.
Looking at the Brawl roster, it was really crammed. I can't think of a character that shouldn't be in there (outside of the third party characters, but they are understood to be guest and be different). Some characters are going to be glossed over, like Ridley. It doesn't mean they can't be in the next game, where they have room for them.
On the other characters, Krystal is less known than Wolf as the newer games (which she is in) haven't reached as many people. Midna was a one shot character.
The other thing is, if we are going to say that the dog has potential like Urban Champion or Balloon Fighter, why don't we just use them instead? They would be easier to make a moveset out of and fighting makes sense for them?
These post are about Arcadenik liking a characters no one else cares about and then getting upset when no one agrees with him about said character.
Though that's a little opinionated, I would still be alright with him in SSB4.
Seriously though we have enough heavyweight male antagonists and series that haven't had any games in some time.
