Character Discussion Thread

[Godzillathewonderdog]

So the cut character part was a mistranslation, but Lucina originally being a Marth alt is true. With that I think it's safe to say that Dark Pit is/was also planned to be a Pit alt, though I think Dark Pit staying as an alt is more likely than him becoming his own character.

 

[CrusherMania1592]

Um, not sure if this has already been posted, but apparently a Famitsu scan located here:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bsp5iI2CUAA478W.jpg

States that Lucina was originally an alt. costume of Marth, but the development team had to cut one of the characters. So in order to keep the number of slots the same, Sakurai made Lucina into her own character.

Originally found on gamefaqs: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/69658047

If this is true, that's pretty interesting to say the least.

Seems like the cut character could be either Chrom or Snake. I'll be somewhat surprised if it's Lucas, but even more surprised if none of those three are the character who was cut

 

[Autumn ♫]

So, since the cut character thing is false, I think it's safe to post my prediction roster. Lucina, Dark Pit, and Dixie are the last minute clones

Thanks to @G0LD3N L0TUS for making the roster for me.

 

[AncientTobacco]

Seems like the cut character could be either Chrom or Snake. I'll be somewhat surprised if it's Lucas, but even more surprised if none of those three are the character who was cut

Again, the "cut character" thing was false.

 

[egaddmario]

Um, not sure if this has already been posted, but apparently a Famitsu scan located here:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bsp5iI2CUAA478W.jpg

States that Lucina was originally an alt. costume of Marth, but the development team had to cut one of the characters. So in order to keep the number of slots the same, Sakurai made Lucina into her own character.

Originally found on gamefaqs: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/69658047

If this is true, that's pretty interesting to say the least.

Lucas? Maybe the Gematsu leak was true when it said Lucas may be getting cut....

It makes more sense for it to be Chrom who got cut- Lucas already has data and a moveset to draw on from Brawl. It's more likely a newcomer who was dropped. Chrom being dropped for Lucina makes a LOT of sense. Especially when you consider Fire Emblem would've had 4 characters plus Lucina's skin. Chrom got dropped in exchange for Lucina to fill that spot to keep the number the same and keep the Emblem rep number the same. Gematsu is most likely still true.

 

[Godzillathewonderdog]

The blurb about how Lucina came to be is basically "Originally Lucina was a Marth color variation because they're related characters. The have different names and voices but play the same, and would receive treatment similar to male/female WFT, Villager and Robin. However, while Lucina's fighting style is the same, she has different characteristics. Because there's only a small difference, she would be a convenient additional character. This made her a lucky newcomer pick."

 

[Jason the Yoshi]

So, since the cut character thing is false, I think it's safe to post my prediction roster. Lucina, Dark Pit, and Dixie are the last minute clones

Thanks to @G0LD3N L0TUS for making the roster for me.

Eh, I'd cut Vaati and Snake for Paper Mario and Krystal

 

[JamesDNaux]

I've just taken over the Rayman thread and updated the OP, so anyone who hasn't shown support yet, or any new fans, please show your support by posting! And even if you're not a fan, if you're alright with the idea of Rayman appearing as DLC, please also add your name to the list so that we can gather large enough support to make some noise and get him added!

 

[Rockaphin]

Found this on Eventhubs:
"One very important detail that both the character reveal trailer and Sakurai left out, however, is that you can actually start a match as Lucina with her mask on. In fact, Lucina has a taunt that lets her put on or remove the mask, in a similar fashion to Guile's sunglasses taunt in Ultra Street Fighter 4."

This is pretty neat. Wouldn't it be cool if Mario could take off his hat with his side-taunt?

 

[Con0rrrr]

If this "cut character" thing is true. It's obvious it was Chrom. Which explains Gematsu's misstep, because it's old info.

Also, this trophy quiz thing is starting to hold merit. The more I think about it... Why was it there? At least for "Who's that pokemon?" We have a break to try and figure it out, this just seemed.... Pointless? But now that the music thing has been brought up, it makes a lot of sense. I dismissed this as baseless speculation at first, but the music changes everything.

Has anyone considered the Zelda rep being Fi, Hyrule Warriors style?

 

[ElPanandero]

So does this hint towards lucina being the only clone? So much for my impa theory

 

[ultimatekoopa]

If this "cut character" thing is true. It's obvious it was Chrom. Which explains Gematsu's misstep, because it's old info.

Also, this trophy quiz thing is starting to hold merit. The more I think about it... Why was it there? At least for "Who's that pokemon?" We have a break to try and figure it out, this just seemed.... Pointless? But now that the music thing has been brought up, it makes a lot of sense. I dismissed this as baseless speculation at first, but the music changes everything.

Has anyone considered the Zelda rep being Fi, Hyrule Warriors style?

Well, it seems the cut character was a mistranslation, nobody was cut

 

[Hotfeet444]

Good afternoon all, long time no see. Congrats to Robin fans like myself, we got what we wanted and proved that Gematsu is not definitive (Though I do think it's on the level of accurate but not well informed), and congrats to Lucina fans...you got Lucina!

Also, Captain Falcon looks like amazing, though he has a look of almost consistent pissed-off on his face (Probably from being away from his own series for so long), and one last thing...

More drawings for future videos...thankfully I don't need to bother with a Chrom one now.

 

[Godzillathewonderdog]

With this information I'm more confident that Dark Pit's just an alt. Lucina was made her own character because she had enough differences from Marth to justify her being her own character. I don't think Dark Pit has enough differences from Pit to justify him being his own character.

 

[Xenorange]

I would totally love to see Metal Sonic. He'd make an awesome Sonic boss character. Him and Robotnik or Eggman.

Yeah, he'd make a great boss.

 

[JamesDNaux]

With this information I'm more confident that Dark Pit's just an alt. Lucina was made her own character because she had enough differences from Marth to justify her being her own character. I don't think Dark Pit has enough differences from Pit to justify him being his own character.

Yep, the translation mentions that Lucina was originally an alt, and was just lucky to become playable.
I don't think two characters would be that lucky. Looks like Lucina may be the only new clone.

 

[DustyPumpkin]

Well they still could've given her like, Marth's custom moves and messed with them a little

 

[Xenorange]

It makes more sense for it to be Chrom who got cut- Lucas already has data and a moveset to draw on from Brawl. It's more likely a newcomer who was dropped. Chrom being dropped for Lucina makes a LOT of sense. Especially when you consider Fire Emblem would've had 4 characters plus Lucina's skin. Chrom got dropped in exchange for Lucina to fill that spot to keep the number the same and keep the Emblem rep number the same. Gematsu is most likely still true.

Cut was false bro.

 

[xXIke-SamaXx]

Maybe he has a full list of all the newcomers:

First leak:

He predicted that these characters are possibly the new characters to be revealed, and he got 3 out of them right, and it's obvious that the character list in the first leak is E3 worthy.

Second leak:

He predicted the characters that might be included in the direct and listed them and he got one right, he didn't outright say that would be it for the roster, he just gave you a number of newcomers.

Third leak wasn't substantial.

So the leaker isn't aware of the time the character are revealed, Maybe in fact Sakurai is putting most of the workers in the dark about his reveals, so he concluded that Shulk would be the character revealed because he saw all the signs that we saw, and they were the same signs that we had with Little Mac, you can't blame for thinking it would be Shulk.

The article is supposed to show you that Sakurai is flimsy with his dicisions and now we know that Lucina was going to be Marth Alt until they decided to make her a standalone character, which had to do with something related to another character, that probably got cut because he was a low priority character and so they either had to make him a clone which will make people upset because they would think the character deserved something more than that. But if he cut the character and replaced him with Lucina who looks like a gender swap of Marth, than he can justify cloning her, The model for Chrom is even better than Lucina's!

I quoted my post from Gamefaqs, I think that can justify the leak!

 

[GamerGuy09]

I quoted my post from Gamefaqs, I think that can justify the leak!

-gif removed-

If you want to talk about leaks, go post it in the leak thread. I just want character discussions.

 

[Xzsmmc]

If you want to talk about leaks, go post it in the leak thread. I just want character discussions.

I just realized that if Robin grew out his hair a bit, he'd bear a startling resemblance to Castlevania's Alucard.

I agree. Discussing and justifying the leak is pointless at this...point. I say we just watch and wait.

 

[xXIke-SamaXx]

If you want to talk about leaks, go post it in the leak thread. I just want character discussions.

....Bro not cool I'm discussing the current Famitsu shenanigans, in fact this is what is causing this leak to be underestimated, people who refuse to give it a chance are people who refuse to read...

 

[Godzillathewonderdog]

It would make sense why Gematsu wouldn't know about Lucina if his information is outdated, but why he said Chrom instead of Robin may be a Villager type deal where he didn't get the actual name of the character and instead had "Fire Emblem Awakening Protagonist" and just assumed Chrom which wouldn't be too much of a stretch. We also know that he does assume things when he said Shulk would be revealed Monday when he actually didn't know for sure.

 

[Gold_Jacobson]

So, since the cut character thing is false, I think it's safe to post my prediction roster. Lucina, Dark Pit, and Dixie are the last minute clones

Thanks to @G0LD3N L0TUS for making the roster for me.

AHH, it's perfect. Except for Vaati instead of Ghirahim!

 

[GamerGuy09]

It would make sense why Gematsu wouldn't know about Lucina if his information is outdated, but why he said Chrom instead of Robin may be a Villager type deal where he didn't get the actual name of the character and instead had "Fire Emblem Awakening Protagonist" and just assumed Chrom which wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

....Bro not cool I'm discussing the current Famitsu shenanigans, in fact this is what is causing this leak to be underestimated, people who refuse to give it a chance are people who refuse to read...

I just hate leaks so muuuch. Just post it somewhere else.

 

[N3ON]

Please keep discussion relevant to the characters and the roster. Discussion about the validity and details of leaks should take place elsewhere.

 

[xXIke-SamaXx]

It would make sense why Gematsu wouldn't know about Lucina if his information is outdated, but why he said Chrom instead of Robin may be a Villager type deal where he didn't get the actual name of the character and instead had "Fire Emblem Awakening Protagonist" and just assumed Chrom which wouldn't be too much of a stretch. We also know that he does assume things when he said Shulk would be revealed Monday when he actually didn't know for sure.

It's not that when he talked about his second leak, he didn't say that these are all the character, people claim that he said which he didn't! Maybe he knew about Robin but thought the the information about Shulk, Chrom and Palutena are more worthy, maybe he didn't think that Sakurai would reveal Robin before the game!

People need to understand, the guy doesn't know what will be in the direct, he just know the character that are in the game, and he is predicting who will be in the direct, by throwing character names.

The fact the the E3 leak wasn't accurate as the fact the he mention more character than what was revealed shows his limited knowledge!

Edit: that's it for me here I guess, I will keep that here for the people who are interested! and for the people that want to discuss it join me in the Leak thread!

 

[False Sense]

By the way, if this thing about Lucina originally being an alternate costume and then being made into her own character is true, isn't that further evidence against the idea that slots matter? I mean, if they did matter, than why would they decide to make Lucina separate, and not just keep her as an alternate costume?

 

[BluePikmin11]

With this information I'm more confident that Dark Pit's just an alt. Lucina was made her own character because she had enough differences from Marth to justify her being her own character. I don't think Dark Pit has enough differences from Pit to justify him being his own character.

They could easily make him pose differently like Lucina and give him a staff to make him different from Pit.
Seriously it's not that hard to make him different.

 

[False Sense]

They could easily make him pose differently like Lucina and give him a staff to make him different from Pit.
Seriously it's not that hard to make him different.

So, if he's supposed to be playable, why was he not revealed with Palutena, like Lucina was with Robin? Is there any good reason for keeping him hidden and not Lucina?

 

[Andinus]

By the way, if this thing about Lucina originally being an alternate costume and then being made into her own character is true, isn't that further evidence against the idea that slots matter? I mean, if they did matter, than why would they decide to make Lucina separate, and not just keep her as an alternate costume?

I don't pay attention for 12 hours and already feel like I missed so much info, but perhaps a character had to be cut for unforeseen reasons and she was an easy replacement?

 

[epicgordan]

So, I delved a bit of deep thinking with all the evidence we have gathered here so far, and I think I have a simple explanation regarding the gematsu leak, and whether or not it can be seen as credible.

First off is the first leak, where he said that "Animal Crossing Guy," Mega Man, Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Pac-Man, and the Miis were all going to be shown at E3 2013 as playable characters. The second leak had Shulk, Palutena, Chrom, Chorus Men, and "Pokémon from X & Y." In between, we also got Rosalina & Luma, a character he did not predict. We now know that all six characters in the first leak are playable, two from the second are as well, one has been disconfirmed, and the other two is still at large. We have since learned that he is affiliated with Namco Bandai (given that he called them Bandai Namco, he's possibly a foreign branch), and that Shulk is most definitely in the game, implying that he may have been finished a while ago, and he got to see him in action. Beyond all that, it's likely that his information is dated and his fourth tip was simply an assumption rather than a real leak as he didn't divulge any further details. It's also worth noting too that leaks that are disconfirmed generally just fade away, with the leaker often just giving up and going home. However, the gematsu leaker is still going at it, and will likely return at least twice more before launch.

So, let's look at the evidence. He may have known from the very beginning that these twelve characters were at the very least, had spots reserved with other slots for potential newcomers still open for consideration. The first six characters may have been leaked specifically because they were all considered for a reveal at E3. However, they decided to only settle for Villager, Mega Man, and Wii Fit Trainer. Mega Man alone would have generated enough hype without drowning out Villager and WFT. Villager was likely a guarantee because of the very first trailer essentially serving as an introduction for the initial ten. But WFT was shown on the floor at E3 simply due to the fact that a character like her couldn't generate hype on her own. As a result, Little Mac, Pac-Man, and the Miis were pushed back in order to not distract from the newcomer reveals shown up to that point. The latter in particular was most likely not even finished yet given the lack of a specific name, and if I had to guess, the Miis originally only had the Brawler class, and that Swordfighter and Gunner were implemented a little while later.

Next comes Rosalina, and this one is simple; up to her reveal, none of the other Nintendo Directs were showcasing any newcomers, which was why he didn't leak the second list until shortly before Smash Direct, in which she and Little Mac were revealed.

Next comes the second leak, where he said that Pac-Man and Miis were still on their way. Chances were highly likely at that point that we'd get reveals for them at E3 2014, and that he had yet to know the Mii's final name. In addition, he also predicted Shulk, Palutena, Chrom, Chorus Men, and "Pokémon from X & Y." We got Greninja, and he reiterated in the third leak that Mii Fighters, Goddess Palutena, Pac-Man, Shulk, Chrom, and Chorus Men were all going to be playable, but also added that either Lucas or Ness--the former more likely--were to be cut, and that there'd be character DLC plans, and thinks Nintendo's just being greedy. Since then, we got Mii Fighters, Palutena, and Pac-Man, but Chrom was disconfirmed. Worse yet, the night before Chrom's disconfirmation, he told us to enjoy Shulk. The next morning, he let slip that he at least had affiliations with Bandai Namco when saying that Nintendo keeps character details secret, and that Sakurai can change his mind at any moment. But, he reassured us that Shulk is in the game, guaranteed.

Now that I filled you up on all the details, it is likely that "Animal Crossing Guy" was a placeholder name similar to "Pokémon from X & Y" except it was until they were to settle for Villager as a name, while Greninja was simply selected after looking through concept art. Chrom is a bit of a similar case, except you can look at it closely towards Villager's scenario in which a slot was indeed originally reserved for him since Smash 4 began development shortly before Fire Emblem: Awakening came out, and Chrom looked to be the next main protagonist. The quick and easy guess as to why Chrom was cut was because he wasn't really the main character of the game but Robin, who had a much more unique moveset that would have been new for Fire Emblem, so Chrom was scrapped in favor of Robin.

Where Lucina fits in makes perfect sense; she was originally going to be an alternate skin for Marth (thus looking strikingly similar to him and having the same moveset), but due to the minor differences in size, was restructured as her own character. This essentially means that Marth will not have an alternate skin at all, and most likely, neither will Lucina (though apparently, she can put on and take off her mask using a taunt, making that a pseudo-alternate skin, but not really). This could possibly lend itself to the reveal of more clone characters originally planned to be alternate skins or color swaps like Dark Pit or Impa (assuming that it's her and not Ghirahim); there are, after all, hints and teases of these two being playable. Either way, this essentially confirms that he doesn't know the full roster (it'd make sense that the characters he doesn't know about will most likely won't be revealed until after launch with maybe one or two exceptions).

Where the Ness vs. Lucas bit came from remains to be seen, but it is unlikely to have been tied to Lucina's inclusion if it turned out to be a really late addition. We may never really know if there was indeed a dispute between the two unless Lucas is indeed cut from the roster. I initially debuffed the leak altogether due to the character DLC contradicting what Sakurai had said before speculating on the possibility of this DLC being the amiibos; if his information really is dated, after all, then he probably assumed their NFC plans were for DLC instead of the figurines that we are about to get. However, hints and teases coming from Captain Toad "wishing he could join the fight...someday" as well as the Rayman trophy suggests that maybe we will indeed get character DLC and that those two could be it. It wouldn't be outside of Sakurai's capabilities to alter Rayman's 3D model a bit and make him into a playable character, but if his inclusion turned out to be very late, Rayman could be reserved for character DLC at a later date.

The naming of the Chorus Men and Bandai Namco may suggest that he may be a Namco employee in Tokyo, but knows how to coherently type in English. This is due to the fact that in the states, the Chorus Men are called Chorus Kids, and Namco Bandai is what we call the company there as well. But if he is employed over there, it leaves one to question what position he is working in in order to get the information that he had, can guarantee that Shulk is playable, and yet still not know everything and get a wrong choice. He can't be a developer or programmer since he'd known of the switch. He isn't a tester either or else he would have spilled the beans on the entire roster. And I doubt he'd be working at archives or mail room since he'd probably would not have such heavily dated information, nor known about the Ness vs. Lucas debate. He might be in marketing, but there's no way to tell what Namco's marketing branch is in charge of regarding Smash Brothers until after launch.

Of course, none of this will matter at all unless Shulk gets confirmed. Chorus Kids as well, I guess, but for all we know, they may have been planned as a 3-in-1 character but replaced with another Rhythm Heaven character due to complications with the 3DS hardware (thus explaining why Ice Climbers haven't been confirmed yet); besides, we know we're getting a Rhythm Heaven character because of the Sneaky Spirit enemies. This pretty much means that against all odds (since he has confirmed that he doesn't know for certain the entire roster, nor knows of any other newcomers that will be in the game), the gematsu leak's one last shot at redemption is Shulk. He has guaranteed us that Shulk will be playable. That pretty much means that regardless of whether or not the Chorus Kids are playable, if Shulk isn't playable, then we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the leak is fake.

Judgment day for the gematsu leak is soon upon us.

EDIT: Wasn't made privy of any warning. Sorry.

 

[Deleted member]

@GoldenYuiitusin
Well, if we're going to "deep analyze" the trophy quiz music, I would say that each track hints at two character slots.

• Ballad of the Goddess is Zelda's Lullaby backwards (a disguise if you will). This could be a hint for Sheik, who was revealed during the direct. Ballad of the Goddess plays in Skyward Sword, probably hinting at Ghirahim/Demise/Groose/Impa/etc...

• Id-Because isn't exactly the Avatar's theme per se, but it plays during the final battle in Awakening (delving into this would tread into spoilers). Therefore, since it's not Robin's official theme the song itself just point towards 2 FE reps, which we got.

• King Ki-hunters trophy sections logically hints at Ridley due to his theme. The fact that it's the theme that plays in Other M points towards ZZS, since that game focused on who Samus was underneath.

• Finally with Pseudo-Palutena, we already got the goddess herself, but after Lucina's reveal Dark Pit seems more plausible as a clone. Since Pseudo Palutena is an enemy, it could also be hinting at Medusa/Hades.

I just recently finished watching Sherlock, so excuse my overly analytical mood.

-Already covered the "Skyward Sword song = Skyward Sword character" logic. I acknowledge that the possibility is there, but considering that the other three songs were specifically tied to certain characters, it would make more sense for someone like Groose, Ghirahim, or Demise to be using their own themes as opposed to Ballad of the Goddess.
I didn't think about the "Zelda's Lullaby in disguise" logic, nice find. In a sense, that could tie it to Sheik, but...if we're going the "Skyward Sword song = character in Skyward Sword" route, it wouldn't be Sheik. And then again, Sheik's not a Newcomer either and was revealed in the same Direct as the Trophy Quizzes.

-Id has been established to be the theme of Robin, and the Purpose reprise is no exception. This is because Id is strictly tied to Robin as well as dark reprises for Grima, who is essentially the "Dark Robin".

-I think the ZSS connection is overthinking it a little too much. Especially because by the time it's King Kihunter's turn, we already know Zero Suit Samus is back. That, and if it were reflective of Samus (in or out of her Power Suit), it would be something....not tied to her archnemesis.

-The trophies themselves don't reflect anything aside from a fake-out in this particular case (making fans think Palutena's a trophy when it's really Pseudo-Palutena). Pseudo-Palutena being an enemy means nothing for Medusa/Hades.
And since at the time, Palutena was not yet revealed, her being revealed by this point doesn't magically shift the focus to another character.

 

[ElPanandero]

So, I delved a bit of deep thinking with all the evidence we have gathered here so far, and I think I have a simple explanation regarding the gematsu leak, and whether or not it can be seen as credible.

First off is the first leak, where he said that "Animal Crossing Guy," Mega Man, Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Pac-Man, and the Miis were all going to be shown at E3 2013 as playable characters. The second leak had Shulk, Palutena, Chrom, Chorus Men, and "Pokémon from X & Y." In between, we also got Rosalina & Luma, a character he did not predict. We now know that all six characters in the first leak are playable, two from the second are as well, one has been disconfirmed, and the other two is still at large. We have since learned that he is affiliated with Namco Bandai (given that he called them Bandai Namco, he's possibly a foreign branch), and that Shulk is most definitely in the game, implying that he may have been finished a while ago, and he got to see him in action. Beyond all that, it's likely that his information is dated and his fourth tip was simply an assumption rather than a real leak as he didn't divulge any further details. It's also worth noting too that leaks that are disconfirmed generally just fade away, with the leaker often just giving up and going home. However, the gematsu leaker is still going at it, and will likely return at least twice more before launch.

So, let's look at the evidence. He may have known from the very beginning that these twelve characters were at the very least, had spots reserved with other slots for potential newcomers still open for consideration. The first six characters may have been leaked specifically because they were all considered for a reveal at E3. However, they decided to only settle for Villager, Mega Man, and Wii Fit Trainer. Mega Man alone would have generated enough hype without drowning out Villager and WFT. Villager was likely a guarantee because of the very first trailer essentially serving as an introduction for the initial ten. But WFT was shown on the floor at E3 simply due to the fact that a character like her couldn't generate hype on her own. As a result, Little Mac, Pac-Man, and the Miis were pushed back in order to not distract from the newcomer reveals shown up to that point. The latter in particular was most likely not even finished yet given the lack of a specific name, and if I had to guess, the Miis originally only had the Brawler class, and that Swordfighter and Gunner were implemented a little while later.

Next comes Rosalina, and this one is simple; up to her reveal, none of the other Nintendo Directs were showcasing any newcomers, which was why he didn't leak the second list until shortly before Smash Direct, in which she and Little Mac were revealed.

Next comes the second leak, where he said that Pac-Man and Miis were still on their way. Chances were highly likely at that point that we'd get reveals for them at E3 2014, and that he had yet to know the Mii's final name. In addition, he also predicted Shulk, Palutena, Chrom, Chorus Men, and "Pokémon from X & Y." We got Greninja, and he reiterated in the third leak that Mii Fighters, Goddess Palutena, Pac-Man, Shulk, Chrom, and Chorus Men were all going to be playable, but also added that either Lucas or Ness--the former more likely--were to be cut, and that there'd be character DLC plans, and thinks Nintendo's just being greedy. Since then, we got Mii Fighters, Palutena, and Pac-Man, but Chrom was disconfirmed. Worse yet, the night before Chrom's disconfirmation, he told us to enjoy Shulk. The next morning, he let slip that he at least had affiliations with Bandai Namco when saying that Nintendo keeps character details secret, and that Sakurai can change his mind at any moment. But, he reassured us that Shulk is in the game, guaranteed.

Now that I filled you up on all the details, it is likely that "Animal Crossing Guy" was a placeholder name similar to "Pokémon from X & Y" except it was until they were to settle for Villager as a name, while Greninja was simply selected after looking through concept art. Chrom is a bit of a similar case, except you can look at it closely towards Villager's scenario in which a slot was indeed originally reserved for him since Smash 4 began development shortly before Fire Emblem: Awakening came out, and Chrom looked to be the next main protagonist. The quick and easy guess as to why Chrom was cut was because he wasn't really the main character of the game but Robin, who had a much more unique moveset that would have been new for Fire Emblem, so Chrom was scrapped in favor of Robin.

Where Lucina fits in makes perfect sense; she was originally going to be an alternate skin for Marth (thus looking strikingly similar to him and having the same moveset), but due to the minor differences in size, was restructured as her own character. This essentially means that Marth will not have an alternate skin at all, and most likely, neither will Lucina (though apparently, she can put on and take off her mask using a taunt, making that a pseudo-alternate skin, but not really). This could possibly lend itself to the reveal of more clone characters originally planned to be alternate skins or color swaps like Dark Pit or Impa (assuming that it's her and not Ghirahim); there are, after all, hints and teases of these two being playable. Either way, this essentially confirms that he doesn't know the full roster (it'd make sense that the characters he doesn't know about will most likely won't be revealed until after launch with maybe one or two exceptions).

Where the Ness vs. Lucas bit came from remains to be seen, but it is unlikely to have been tied to Lucina's inclusion if it turned out to be a really late addition. We may never really know if there was indeed a dispute between the two unless Lucas is indeed cut from the roster. I initially debuffed the leak altogether due to the character DLC contradicting what Sakurai had said before speculating on the possibility of this DLC being the amiibos; if his information really is dated, after all, then he probably assumed their NFC plans were for DLC instead of the figurines that we are about to get. However, hints and teases coming from Captain Toad "wishing he could join the fight...someday" as well as the Rayman trophy suggests that maybe we will indeed get character DLC and that those two could be it. It wouldn't be outside of Sakurai's capabilities to alter Rayman's 3D model a bit and make him into a playable character, but if his inclusion turned out to be very late, Rayman could be reserved for character DLC at a later date.

The naming of the Chorus Men and Bandai Namco may suggest that he may be a Namco employee in Tokyo, but knows how to coherently type in English. This is due to the fact that in the states, the Chorus Men are called Chorus Kids, and Namco Bandai is what we call the company there as well. But if he is employed over there, it leaves one to question what position he is working in in order to get the information that he had, can guarantee that Shulk is playable, and yet still not know everything and get a wrong choice. He can't be a developer or programmer since he'd known of the switch. He isn't a tester either or else he would have spilled the beans on the entire roster. And I doubt he'd be working at archives or mail room since he'd probably would not have such heavily dated information, nor known about the Ness vs. Lucas debate. He might be in marketing, but there's no way to tell what Namco's marketing branch is in charge of regarding Smash Brothers until after launch.

Of course, none of this will matter at all unless Shulk gets confirmed. Chorus Kids as well, I guess, but for all we know, they may have been planned as a 3-in-1 character but replaced with another Rhythm Heaven character due to complications with the 3DS hardware (thus explaining why Ice Climbers haven't been confirmed yet); besides, we know we're getting a Rhythm Heaven character because of the Sneaky Spirit enemies. This pretty much means that against all odds (since he has confirmed that he doesn't know for certain the entire roster, nor knows of any other newcomers that will be in the game), the gematsu leak's one last shot at redemption is Shulk. He has guaranteed us that Shulk will be playable. That pretty much means that regardless of whether or not the Chorus Kids are playable, if Shulk isn't playable, then we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the leak is fake.

Judgment day for the gematsu leak is soon upon us.

EDIT: Wasn't made privy of any warning. Sorry.

I made a joke about it before, but I wonder if what he saw of shulk he just confused with Robin. Depending on what medium he's seeing them in, it's a reasonable mistake considering their physical appearance and the fact that people forget what generic robin looks like. If he only had access to early concept art or something, I see it as a stretch, but still a feasibility.

Also really against shulk, so I'm hoping I'm right

 

[True Blue Warrior]

This is our Grass type replacement for Ivysaur in Smash 4

Isaacsaur Plants his Presence!

 

[Autumn ♫]

Eh, I'd cut Vaati and Snake for Paper Mario and Krystal

AHH, it's perfect. Except for Vaati instead of Ghirahim!

Not sure if you guys are trolling me or being serious.

 

[Jason the Yoshi]

Not sure if you guys are trolling me or being serious.

I'm not trolling you, I'm just being honest.

 

[Tr1pleDee]

Well if Lucina was originally an alt costume, that means Sakurai went against his statement saying he doesn't want costumes that change the character's identity. So.. does that mean we may see some more diverse alt costumes?

 

[Autumn ♫]

I'm not trolling you, I'm just being honest.

I don't see what Krystal has over Vaati or Snake, and if I were to add another Mario, it'd be Cpt. Toad. That and Vaati's my most wanted newcomer (which I'm sure you already knew ) and Snake's my most wanted returning veteran, even beating Mewtwo for me.

 

[NintenRob]

@ NintenRob may I ask who satabo+parabo is?

Everything you need to know is in my sig.