Posting this here since it's relevant to this topic:
In about a month, E3 2013 will finally arrive. At that time, judgment day will finally begin in regards to characters. While there will be many hopefuls that will finally see the light in Smash, many more will unfortunately miss out for a variety of reasons. E3 is when we can begin to learn the fate of a few hopefuls that the Smash Bros. community has been missing out. Here are my prediction for E3 this year:
Ridley:
Ridley has been long overdue for a Smash appearance. One of the very few characters left to have been requested since pre-Melee, Ridley has the advantage of not only being massively popular but also being requested by fans for a very, very long time. He is Samus's worst nightmare that keeps coming around at the most unexpected times, waiting for the day when Ridley can finally kill Samus. Even death has failed to conquer Ridley for good.
Ridley is pretty much the best hype machine character for a Nintendo newcomer. He's still relevant and he's among the Top 5 most wanted characters (probably the fourth most wanted) with likely being the most wanted Nintendo newcomer in the West.
Normally, he seems suited to be an unlockable, but considering that fans have asked for him so long, he seems to work much better as an E3 reveal similar to how Meta-Knight worked as an unlockable very well but ended up being at E3. After all of these years, I think Sakurai wants to finally end those sleepless nights for Ridley fans. Granted, his appearance is dependent on Samus's return, but I still expect to see him at E3 nonetheless.
Palutena:
If there's going to be a female newcomer at E3 this year, no one else works better as a reveal than Palutena herself.
Given that Sakurai has developed Kid Icarus: Uprising and that it's unlikely that he'll express the same fear about over-representation as he did with Kirby, I think there's a very strong chance of Pit showing up at E3 this year. If Pit does show up at E3 this year, I feel that it's only natural that Palutena also tags along with Pit as well, showing her transition to playable status. Palutena also has the benefit of being by far the most wanted female character and being only slightly behind Pit in importance (the franchise is even named after her in Japan). She has a very good chance at being revealed at E3 this year.
Little Mac:
Pretty much a "duh" choice at E3 at this point. He's the main character of the biggest misc. franchise left that Sakurai hasn't ruled out yet and like Ridley, is also among the Top 5 most wanted characters. Little Mac is one of the most likely potential newcomers not playable yet and pretty much nothing holds him back outside of lack of Japanese popularity (which even then is countered by his massive Western popularity). What makes an E3 appearance even more likely is that he's not dependent on any character getting in, which bodes well for him. I'd be surprised if Little Mac failed to show up at E3 this year.
Takamaru:
We're getting a retro character no matter how people view the situation and we are going to seeing a retro character at E3. It's almost certain that Takamaru is going to be playable this game as he has pretty much everything going for him. Takamaru works really well as Smash 4's "surprise" character (despite Takamaru being expected by the vast majority of the speculation community, we're in the very small minority) as most people don't even think about him, yet an E3 appearance allows the world to see exactly who he is and I think he could bring a lot of excitement into the scene. Pretty obscure, but could bring hype as a "surprise" character. I'd be surprised if he was not at E3, especially since no other retro choice could bring a surprise hype (outside of maybe Mach Rider, but he's going to be unlockable if in at all, so I don't see him being revealed this early).
Mega Man:
Now this is a tough nut to crack as pretty much anything could happen with third-parties, but this is one risky prediction worth taking.
One great way for third-parties to be revealed is at E3. Sakurai is going to want a third-party that brings hype to the game and along with it, excitement. While Mega Man is far from the only possibility for a third-party E3 reveal, he does stand the best chance of being revealed there because of him being probably the most wanted newcomer, Capcom of Japan having some interest in Mega Man's inclusion in Smash, Sakurai noticing his popularity ever since pre-Melee and being a video game icon. If Sakurai wants a third-party, Mega Man fits really well into the description of an exciting third-party choice that would bring hype to the game.
And with that my quick writing of my E3 predictions is over. There are certainly other possibilities out there such as King K. Rool, Shulk and a Namco rep and I will probably get one of these wrong, but these are the ones I feel are the most likely.
Should be fun to see how close I get.