Something I'm really keeping in mind here is the speculated companies and characters that
Fatmanonice
has mentioned.
The characters themselves may be off, but so far the companies involved have been pretty significant.
Before, it was brought up the pass could be Waluigi, Master Chief, Geno, Lloyd, Crash, and Dante.
Eventually, ideas have shifted with new information.
Rumors about Ryu Hayabusa being included to then getting Min Min back in June, the pass started to look something like this:
Min Min, Master Chief, Geno, Lloyd, Ryu H. Dante- Waluigi, Crash, maybe two Nintendo characters. (Characters may not be exact as it was when Fatman has brought it up, but trying to use this for example).
I don't think we should be focusing on the characters, but definitely the companies involved, which have been accurate: Nintendo (Duh), Microsoft, Square, Namco, Capcom, and the two rumored ones, Activision and Koi-Tecmo.
As I've brought and, and so have others, I feel there would be a 3rd pass, and it is interesting the relationship between Nintendo, Microsoft, and Square-Enix.
Before yesterday, I felt the two passes would look like this:
Pass 2: Min Min, Steve, Geno, Lloyd, Ryu H. Dante
Pass 3: Waluigi, Crash, Master Chief, ???? (Either a nintendo character, or another 3rd party: Sora, rayman, Doom Slayer, etc.)
In light of yesterdays reveal, I think its starting to make sense that we would see something like this:
Pass 2: Min Min, Steve, Sephiroth, Lloyd, Ryu. H, Dante (Here, non of the companies are double-dipping)
Pass 3: Waluigi, Crash, Geno, Master Chief
It may not go in this order, or be these exact characters, but I just find it interesting that it has been rumored that Microsoft could get 3 reps (Banjo, Steve, and Master Chief) and quite possibly Square-Enix (Hero, Sephiroth, Geno). Out of the companies involved, I feel they have a much larger pull.
I just wanted to get my thoughts out here, and obviously things can play out differently, and that's fine too.
Overall, I am very excited to see what comes next. As a Geno fan, yes, on the surface it doesn't look promising, but I feel the same way as when Hero was revealed. I thought "Shoot, he got the shaft again... Well, lets see what happens.." And look, its a year and a half later and we're still here speculating.
If he's in, great, if not, fine too. Ultimate has been an amazing game and I'm not going to let 1 disappointment influence my opinion on this game. Geno wasn't the only fighter I was rooting for, but he's still number 1 on my list. So anyways, lets see what happens