Just quoting this for posterity. XP
iphone wins that round.
Pretty much just going to keep on predicting a new stage until one actually shows up.
Also, in relation to "Sakurai gives us 'what we don't know we want' and is heavenly for this reason"...blegh.
I'm not saying he's "heavenly for that reason". I'm saying that a game developer needs to be a game developer, not a mediator for the public's every desire. Just look at people's wish lists and "dream rosters". There's absolutely no way he is going to make a game that everyone likes, nor one that can ever be perfect. That's OK.
Game development is a form of art, at least in my opinion it is. As someone studying game design and art for my Bachelor's Degree, I support the idea of letting the artist remain the artist. He can create the game, we offer feedback and suggestions, and it's to his and his team's discretion what exactly is included. If all he does is listen to us, it wouldn't be very fun in the end, it's simply a "grass is always greener" aspect.
And the whole notion that "he can give us things we don't know we want" being a fallacy, I just don't feel it as such. I think it's a developers JOB to give us things we weren't expecting, but come to love and appreciate. Otherwise we'd rarely ever progress and innovate, we'd always just want a rehash of the last version but with more characters, stages etc. He has to come up with things we don't expect, and make us fall in love with them. Be it something/someone obscure like Game & Watch, R.O.B., or the Wii Fit Trainer(I bet you she/he will gain popularity from this), or be it someone who hasn't been given a chance to really shine, but was always there, yet wasn't on our radar. Same goes for gameplay elements. Regardless of your opinions of the Smash Ball Final Smash gameplay aspect, like it or hate it, it's pretty cool. Yet, if you loved Melee and Sakurai just listened to fan suggestions that were the most popular following Melee, with no innovation to do something different, we likely wouldn't have gotten it(I am not familiar of where the idea came from, so it could be a bad example, but you get the idea).
Point being, I love it when a game brings my attention to something/someone I hadn't even thought of or considered, and then I become a fan of it because of the inclusion. We as fans, when you take the majority of opinions shared by the masses, you aren't always going to get these little gems.
It should be a fine balance, of fan desires and wants(Mega Man, Little Mac etc.), as well as the developers own ideas and concepts(I'd hate to make something I don't feel I can put my own touch on and branch out a bit).
Anyways...back on topic.
I hope we don't have to wait too long for the pic again. : / Unless it's worth waiting for.