I think you guys have already sort of brought this up
Takamaru and Prince of Sablé were both one game only characters, except for some non-canon appearances of Takamaru.
The characters are known out here, but my guess is since their games are both Japan exclusives that they are more well known in Japan. They both made it in as assist trophies. That being said, by what Smashchu said about what the Japanese are looking for, they come nowhere near the level Shulk is wanted.
Therefore, it's reasonable to say that Shulk will be at least an assist trophy in ssb4. In my mind, this is probably the worst case scenario. However, since Shulk is Japan's #1 most wanted newcomer, and that there is also very large want for him out west, I have a hard time envisioning him placed on the same level as Takamaru and the Prince of Sablé. It only really makes sense that he would be a playable character.
Add in all of the other arguments that have been raised in this thread... the leaks, the four tweets, how well he would work, how he could be unique, how great Xenoblade is, how he's 1st party, how Monolith Soft made Xenoblade (only 1st party without representation in Smash), and how Xenoblade has a sequel, etc, and I have no doubt that Shulk is in.
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That being said, I wish I could send a message to myself two years ago saying, "Yeah dude, Shulk becomes just as wanted, if not more wanted, as Ridley and K. Rool out west. Also, there are just so many positive things going for Shulk's inclusion right now that democratic vote in a thread on Smashboards rates him at an 84.58% chance of getting into ssb4. Personally, I have no doubt. Oh and you will join Smashboards and spend a lot of time in a Shulk support thread having fun with many other fans of Xenoblade and Shulk."
I used to feel alone with Shulk support, or at least, part of a very small and unorganized group. Xenoblade was this amazing game that nobody knew about, and thanks to GameStop, nobody would. Because of playing Xenoblade, I thought Shulk was deserving of being in SSB4 but didn't think of it as at all likely, because almost nobody knew of the game. Things started to turn around when my oldest brother tried out the game and also fell in love with it and started to support Shulk. Then, I found the Shulk support page on facebook, which started to give me hopes at his inclusion. It was small at first, but my confidence continued to boost with each new like and each new thing came out to support Shulk. I think when Gematsu leaked about Shulk is when the ball really started rolling, and after MonadoMonday and joining this thread, that ball is at its terminal velocity.
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Oh hey, Solfiner, I just realized that we have main pretty much the same characters! It turns out that for the majority of Brawl I was maining Lucas, who is very similar to your Ness, only going back to maining Link more towards the end. If we both main Shulk in ssb4 then we'd be even more similar.
y about this:
