I'll give it a shot with some of my inputs. Character names colored green are newcomers.
- Super Mario Bros.
- Donkey Kong Country
- Dixie Kong
- King K. Rool
- Yoshi's Island
- Super Mario Galaxy
- WarioWare, Inc.
- The Legend of Zelda
- Impa (preferably based on her Skyward Sword or Hyrule Warriors appearance)
- Metroid
- Kirby
- Star Fox
- Pokemon
- (Ash-Greninja becomes Greninja's Final Smash)
- F-Zero
- EarthBound / Mother
- Fire Emblem
- Game & Watch
- Kid Icarus
- Pikmin
- Animal Crossing
- Wii Fit
- Punch-Out!!
- Xenoblade Chronicles
- NES Classics
- (odd number color slots control Popo; even number color slots control Nana)
- Splatoon
- Inkling (can choose between male or female)
- 3rd Party
- Chocobo
- Crash Bandicoot
- Rayman
- Shantae (modify her wardrobe to be less revealing)
SSB3DS / SSBU Participants Cut
Reasons
The inclusion of Dixie Kong and K. Rool are for some extra Donkey Kong Country representation, with Dixie serving as a third primary antagonist, while K. Rool represents the villain position.
Impa has had many different appearances, but at least two of her appearances look manageable enough for a playable spot. Hyrule Warriors is a spin-off though, so Skyward Sword would be the next best pick.
Bandana Waddle Dee has been a rather frequent character, and he has shown to do well with using spears. Why not use that spear for Smash Bros. combat?
Wolf and Ice Climbers come back. There won't be anything holding back the Ice Climbers, since the main reason for their exclusion from Smash 3DS / Wii U was due to the 3DS's inability to handle their mechanics. As for Wolf, he is Fox's rival, and it felt quite insulting to not see him.
I haven't played Splatoon, but the Inkling would be an obvious representative for that franchise.
As for 3rd party representation, Crash Bandicoot has had some appearances on Nintendo consoles, and interestingly enough, he does appear in the Wii U version of Skylanders Imaginators. Rayman got a trophy cameo in Smash Wii U, so it would be interesting to see if he could get the playable promotion. Shantae would basically represent some of the various Indie games that exist, but her wardrobe may need to be worked on. Chocobo is the Final Fantasy mascot, and is probably one of the most memorable characters in the Final Fantasy franchise.
In regards to cuts, Dark Pit and Lucina seem to be one time only representatives. The Miis also don't get second chances, especially with their lack of viability. Cloud's removal is mostly due to the fact that Final Fantasy VII has yet to appear on a Nintendo console. Bayonetta, I don't even know why she made the cut. Dr. Mario and Roy get the boot, mostly to reduce more of the clone population.
Two things I'd like to note; Bayonetta got the cut because she won the Smash Poll. Obviously in a new Smash game, I don't consider her that likely, but I'm gathering you mean an all new Smash game, not an enhanced port. Correct me if that's wrong, please.
Roy is not a clone anymore and got heavily changed up. He's basically far more like Ganondorf is.
I have my own opinions on who should go and not, but I disagree with removing Cloud(a highly memorable and iconic character) for a less known one and far less popular addition. I get why, due to FFVII having no Nintendo appearances, which makes more sense(mind you, I'm sure you're aware that a character just needs to originate in a video game to be eligible to get into Smash when it comes to 3rd parties, and for that matter, 1st/2nd party characters need to have an official video game appearance. For instance, and apparently, Captain N is a first party Nintendo character. Note that the person didn't really cite the source, but let's go with this as an example nonetheless. He has zero video game appearances. Thus, he cannot make it in regardless of being actually notable on his own merits, although fairly obscure at this point).
My other things to note; What's going on with Mario? Is he now back to his Melee self to some degree, which means you feel the clones take away from the uniqueness factor. Cause obviously Dr. Mario's spin alone separated him heavily from regular Mario. Lucina and Dark Pit respectively play significantly more similar, which is why I also feel they're not likely for regular future games, but Doc is(or at least will be his own unique character if playable, never an alt).
Impa, while neat, should be after a form of Ganon, imo. The reason is that Ganon has no playable representation(no, Ganondorf doesn't count and his Beast Ganon form is entirely different from the proper boss players fought in many Zelda games). The two key forms that have the easiest moveset potential of the canon games are OOT and ALttP. It's matter of whether you want the trident or double swords. That said, I think Impa has even more options as a composite character using moves from all across her appearances, but also using her Oracles appearance could boost her moveset potential while avoiding making her an easy clone of Sheik. Also, despite her gaining somewhat more importance, I have a feeling that unless Tingle is trapped in Assist Trophy hell, he's probably more likely. Having his own games is notable here. And he's the only one with fully approved Nintendo games to boot. Obviously the CD-i games are not ones Nintendo likes, and I don't blame them. They were forced to actually let them be made due to a contract and all.
Bayonetta really should stay. She's an amazing character and was the most popular feasible addition to the roster they could find among the poll. She also provides a lot of combo potential and moves, while removing the extreme kiddy image Nintendo has, but still is made very respectable for Smash. BTW, why didn't you return Snake(outside of I'm guessing Konami being jerks, that is).
Pokemon-wise, no issues, but you're not clear on when you think this game would come out, so it's hard to say what games you're taking into account for relevancy. If Ash-Greninja is there, it's fair to say that SM are highly relevant. May I ask why you didn't choose anyone from there?
I have recommendations for smaller series. Yoshi has Kamek, who somehow falls under that specific series officially despite clearly being an active regular Mario character. Wario absolutely has Ashley as the most logical secondary choice at this time(she's being pushed the most out of his own series. And before one says Waluigi, he is officially not part of the Wario franchise, sadly so). F-Zero, while I would like more, is fine due to being a dead series respectively. Same with Mother. Animal Crossing is arguable in it getting more, but Isabelle fighting doesn't seem right at all. She's too kind. Someone who is fine with being violent would make the most sense(Resetti, Nook), imo. Why not Medusa or Viridi added for some unique flavor to the Kid Icarus cast? I get why Dark Pit is gone, and unless he could get more unique moves(via weapons), I think cutting him is reasonable. We don't have any nature-based fighters or ones who are snake-like or even have the option to turn someone to stone temporarily.
Finally, Shantae. She doesn't make sense over Quote, who is more overall iconic, or Shovel Knight, who is the most pushed Indie character since(and is highly popular still with some major hype and upcoming constant DLC. While the hype died down a bit, it's still very notable as a game right now. He also was the only Indie character to get an amiibo, which suggests he's probably the most in-tune with Nintendo at this point). There's also representatives from Freedom Planet and Yooka-Laylee, both right now doing extremely well/severely hyped up. Last but not least, if you too heavily modify Shantae's outfit(like taking away the belly-dancing style), you lose a lot of her flavor. As Bayonetta proved, you can still tone it down while keeping the spirit of the character.
Beyond that, I do ask again; When do you think this will come out? Lastly, is this a wishlist or a prediction list?
The reason I ask the last two questions is that the game series takes relevancy into account when making a roster, which wishlist or prediction list, it should still be useful as a tool for figuring out what people would like the most. In the wishlist's case, it makes sense for many choices. As a prediction list, it has a lot of questionable changes(which I pointed out already), and it also depends on factors, like who you think would be the main Director as well.
