@John Sonic & Sega Allstar Racing is an awesome racer. It isn't Mario Kart, but it's definitely the next best thing.
You mean the next best thing after Mario Kart ANNDDDDDD Diddy Kong Racing!
You make it sound like only the characters who had millions of supporters get in Smash. I don't think millions of fans were clamoring for Ice Climbers (probably because almost everyone never heard of them), Mr. Game & Watch (probably because almost nobody cared about Game & Watch games), Roy (because he didn't exist yet), Dr. Mario and Young Link (probably because most people hadn't thought about a second Mario/Link in Smash) to be in Melee nor were they clamoring for Pokemon Trainer (I remember how many people were dead against this), Zero Suit Samus (all attention were on Ridley), Lucas (because they felt threatened that he could replace Ness), R.O.B. (probably because people thought he can't fight), Snake (most likely because most people believed that no third party characters were going to be in Smash), Toon Link (all attention were on Midna and people believed that his cel-shaded graphics would clash with the realistic Twilight Princess characters), Wolf (all attention were on Krystal) to be in Brawl.
Of course not every character had huge support in smash. You are merely translating it that way. Some of the characters you are bringing up (the Duck Hunt Dog, King Hippo) are minor characters from minor franchises. ROB, Ice Climber, Mr. G&W (which by the way, we do care about, and has sold about as many units as the entire Zelda franchise), Lucas, the Pokémon Trainer, Zero Suit Samus, and Toon Link all STARRED in their own games. Wolf, on the other hand, has been Fox's arch rival, and has been one of the 3 most popular characters in the Star Fox series since his creation.
Lucas, Wolf, and Toon Link all also had huge amounts of support pre-Brawl (I also know Young Link had his supporters pre-Melee). They had probably several thousand supporters (if not hundreds of thousands of supporters) compared to the amount of supporters the likes of Tingle, King Hippo, and the Duck Hunt Dog will gather.
Meanwhile Mr. G&W and ROB are two of the most important Nintendo characters of all-time. Zero Suit Samus is also the sole playable character (multiplayer aside) in the Metroid franchise, and there were some people (not many) who thought she could be playable. The Ice Climbers were an excellent concept that Sakurai tried out, and everyone knew who the Pokémon Trainer/Red/Ash is, and it was an interesting concept. Roy was the lone exception. He was merely to "show off" the newer part of the history of the longstanding Fire Emblem franchise.
So far the "WTF?" and random characters you have mentioned so far don't follow Sakurai's patterns. Sakurai has yet to make a very minor character like Tingle, the Duck Hunt Dog, or King Hippo as a playable character in smash. Sure, characters from small franchises/one game like Ness, Lucas, the Ice Climbers, and Pit have all been the stars. They are all characters I have any reason to really want to play as other than to be a stupid gimmick.
Meanwhile, in larger franchises, the 2nd and 3rd most important (hero) character (Zelda, Luigi, Peach, Diddy Kong, etc), constantly reappearing anti-hero or villain (Wolf, Ganondorf, Bowser, King Dedede, Meta Knight, etc) have appeared (Pokémon, of course, is always the exception).
I am pretty positive Smash 4 will have some surprises in store for us. My list of newcomers? Half of them would make us happy because they are some of the most-wanted and popular characters... but the others would surprise/shock/anger/disappoint us, at least at first. I believe we are going to experience emotions like surprise/shock/anger/disappointment, not just joy, when it comes to possible newcomers and the final SSB4 roster. By the end of the day, there will be something for everyone, not just the ones who only expect the popular/most-wanted characters.
Half to 75% of the characters will be characters we see coming. 0-20% will be characters we may not have seen coming, but weren't totally surprised by. 25%-30% of the characters most of us would not see coming. Again, these will either be stars of minor games or franchises, something Pokémon, perhaps an unusual 3rd party character choice (ie: Pac-Man), or some recent new character who stars in a recent game or franchise that we have overlooked.
I'm not saying this isn't happening. I'm just saying minor characters in minor games like King Hippo and the Duck Hunt Dog are
not happening.
Not sure if this has been brought up, but what do people here think about Dillon being in Sm4sh?
I don't care... as long as the characters I really want (Mega Man, Ridley, K. Rool, Dixie Kong, Issac) get in first. Then again, that is my answer to everything...
So pretty much I am all neutral all the time.
Roy has probably hit his peak, myabe rising a few more spots, but he's still pretty high up there.
9. Medusa (172)
10. Dixie Kong (166)
11. Samurai Goroh (150)
12. Palutena (146)
13. Bandana Dee (145)
14. Roy (142)
To frank, I can see him hitting 11, but I don't know if he will pass up Dixie Kong, or Medusa. And he definitely won't pass up the top eight. I could see Bandana Dee losing steam later this year, and maybe Palutena and Medusa lose a fanbase on the off chance KIU blows. And I could see him MAYBE passing up Goroh. I don't think it's likely he will get much higher though.
The top eight are pretty much set in stone, and Medusa and Dixie have consistantly been 9 & 10, the rest are slightly more fluid.
I think that Paletuna and Medusa will probably drop if you hold this poll for the whole year, seeing as how Uprising will have passed it's "brand new game" status. Even if Uprising is a classic game, chances are their popularity will at least slightly fall because the "brand new game" status will have disappeared. Now once a trailer is revealed for Smash Bros, that could obviously and definitely reverse. Banana Dee has the same "new game" thing going with him viva Return to Dreamland.
I think that Roy could pass all of those characters except maybe Dixie Kong. Dixie Kong seems to be a character those of us who owned a Super Nintendo cling onto. If we got a Donkey Kong title confirmed with her in it, I could definitely see support for her growing (unless they remodeled her and she looked awful in it).
Samurai Goroh's support and supporters have been all over ever since it was confirmed he wasn't playable in Melee. If there is a new F-Zero game shown, Samurai Goroh's support might go through the roof (by F-Zero characters that aren't Captain Falcon standards).
People like theorycrafting characters and rosters more than mechanics. I can understand that.
Because making each smash bros game completely different (like what Sakurai and his fellow smash bros developers) have tried to do each time is hard. It's got so many elements to it, and really anything could happen. We don't have much of a grasp on what could happen.
Whereas with characters and playable character theories/guessing, we at least know what probably will happen, what could happen, and what might happen. I've been doing this since like 2005 (before Brawl was first revealed), so I know! Seriously, I use to visit a site where everyone though "Smash 3" would have default health bars.
chuckle:
Plus things like balancing characters, moves, hitboxes, items, stages, NPCs, etc doesn't necessarily carry over from one smash bros game to another. For example, Meta Knight can do all kinds of quick moves, combos (I think; I haven't played competitive Brawl in a few years), and early kill moves in Brawl, and he totally dominates. If you put him in Melee, he would probably be high tier at best. If you nerf him and put him in a fast paced, technical, offense trumps defense game similar to Brawl, he would be garbage. A similar thing (I think) happened with Captain Falcon and Ganondorf in Brawl.
On top of that, many characters have their whole play style redefined or redone. Fox seems to have changed with each smash bros game in terms of play style and how moves work, and sometimes even his weight changes. Ness has a similar play style in each game, but plays very different in each one. Guessing this is basically the opposite of an exact and logical science.
