It's stuff like this that makes me wish they actually put some proper guidelines for this ballot.......
The problem is they said they "can't guarantee your suggestion." No guidelines, you can vote for any video game character, but they can't guarantee said character will make it.
With that in mind, we can safely assume that anyone who has absolutely no restrictions on being made playable are the more likely options; characters like K. Rool and Isaac who are merely an Assist Trophy in the game or less, and are owned by Nintendo. Others like Sami, Wonder Red, Inkling, etc., are also viable options.
But beyond that? We have no idea. I think they did it that way on purpose, though; they want to see who is viable and who people really want. Even if they have no intention of adding certain characters.
I completely disagree on those who say this isn't a popularity contest, though. Its called a "ballot" for a reason. YES, it IS a popularity contest. That's not the -ONLY- restriction, and they will review everything, so all votes count. But odds are, the ones with more votes are the ones more likely to be added. Of course it's also beneficial to have quality votes.
Outside of Wolf, do you guys see any other veterans appearing? Or do you think they won't include any more "clones"?
I'd say the odds are stacked against every non-Wolf veteran. Nintendo has to feel that Snake is viable and get through Konami (Konami doesn't appear to be an obstacle; which would mean that NINTENDO stopped Snake from getting in the game, perhaps because Konami didn't support Nintendo consoles with MGS, which is a huge thing against him). Ice Climbers are the other viable option, but they couldn't get them to work on 3DS. I'd say the odds are could IC's could come back for the next game, but as DLC its extremely slim.
Ivysaur isn't that popular overall, and Squirtle competes with Greninja for a water type. Plus there's already 6 Pokemon. Pichu was literally a joke character and everyone except Japan hates Pichu. Roy would give us a third Marth clone, and we already have a second Young Link.
Wolf, Snake, and Ice Climbers are the only viable options, but I'd say odds are good that only Wolf has a real chance.