Phew...that was a long six pages. Anyways, I gotta' couple of ideas and comments on other ideas. First off. All. I repeat all great fighting games have a story. Tekken, Soul Calibur, Power Stone, etc. all have amazing stories. Although some of them don't go into very much detail, they are underlying storylines which very much affect how you feel about the character.
Now, people seem to have concerns that either multi-player wil severely lack or the story will be lackluster and feel rushed. Concerning the former, if you look at the game close enough, it uses the same engine as SSBM to the key if you think about it. And SSBM used the engine of SSB. Therefore, the multiplayer is probably already done and taken care of. They just needed to add characters, polish, "super smash" moves and any other secrets they have in store for us.
As for story mode, I believe that they could implement two story modes in fact. Classic mode can have the story of the individual characters where they end with different bosses. With a soul calibur 2-esque destined battle in which they face their boss right before the master hand. There would be a slight dialogue, or maybe no sound at all.
For instance, Mario is running to face the final hand when a "hand corrupted" bowser knocks him off his feet. Bowser roars in the entrance of the final battle and Mario straightens his hat before bellowing a "let's a go!!" and jumping towards the beast. In contrast, Link can walk calmly towards the portal to the battle and stops suddenly turning around because he senses a presence. He sees Ganondorf there who meets him with no words but simply draws his sword. The two rush at each other and the battle begins.
Also, co-op adventure would be great!!!
