Suppose this leaked starting roster is correct that we're getting out of 2ch. Is it just me, or is it completely haywire in its arrangement compared to the shape and arrangement suggested by Portrait? I know that the blocks can move around, that's not a big deal, but I mean, Peach, Mario, and Bowser are quite far from each other. This would require a complete shuffle to be right.
I'm beginning to think the 35 leakers started out with the right information and played their cards wrong, but aren't lying deliberately, simply by watching the evolution of the R.O.B. debates. ChronoBound posted his proposed list composite of leakers after MarkMan said 35, and the Gamefaqs mob being bombarded with information took them to be the same leak and people were scrambling to find the leak claiming R.O.B. was confirmed. This was a total frenzy as foolish children were bobbling around trying to discern which leaker said what when, almost all of them wrong.
Now, we had two unaffiliated sets of leaks. MarkMan and Reno over at NeoGAF reporting 35, 41. I think that's probably right judging by their track record. The lack of a roster, however, seems to imply that not all the information was in their hands, albeit Wolf and Falco are spoken of. On the other side reporting directly at GameFAQs is PortalofRUIN of Castlevania fame. She purports 35 also, but does not give a roster either. The coincidence of the time and info leads me to believe they had the exact same source with the exact same discretion.
Now, people over at NeoGAF did not have their minds corrotted with Smash fanboyism and were not so fast to deject the idea of 35 characters. There was plenty of skepticism and people taking ban bets, however. People started asking MarkMan if he knew Portrait, and he actually replied, "I know of her, but don't know where she's getting this." Now the two powers start a strange interplay.
I think PortalOfRUIN missed something next. Was she calling the bluff, that somebody knew something she didn't? Was she pissed off at GameFAQs' cokehead attitude? Regardless, the arrangement of her select sounds seems right, but we're getting conflicting reports now. MarkMan was quick to say she was trustworthy later on in GameFAQs own company, but something tells me he wasn't the type to sift through all the replies. R.O.B. magically became the sealed deal on the roster.
It's just the fact that GameFAQs was in uproar and screaming about the character after ChronoBound's roster shot through the place and everyone started talking about R.O.B., which many younger gamers have never even heard of. It all stemmed back to one creditless leaker, ShadowXOR, who insisted the game would include him, and he was the only last leaker to fit into the 35th character slot that CB put together.
Don't get me wrong, I think the roster is right [i[as of now.[/i] I think if they made some kind of battle mode for R.O.B. where he sprouts full limbs it would be awesome. But I can't help but have this nagging suspicion that a huge miscommunication took place after the fact judging by the way all this has played out over the last few days. 35 is probably right judging by the reports coming in, but the end details really have me wondering.