As if Villager is the only person who Sakurai initially passed over and later added.
Little Mac, Mii Fighters, Pac Man, Ryu, etc...
Villager is generally the one people cling to first. But, considering you're so eager to try to make me look like a fool for only using the common example, I'll address each one you gave.
Let's see....
Little Mac: Sakurai made no mention of Little Mac being considered prior to Smash 4. Point invalid.
Mii Fighters: Same ****ing reason as Villager; non-combatants.
Pac-Man: Probably the only
decent example, going by the older translations of last year. Though going by the more recent translation on Source Gaming of what Sakurai said, it seems he was more in disbelief in the idea that Pac-Man would be a guest as opposed to outright dismissing Pac-Man.
He was notably eager on the idea once Bamco was part of the team, going as far as
surprising them with Pac-Man's inclusion.
Ryu: Same as Little Mac, Sakurai had made
no mention of Ryu being considered prior to Smash 4's DLC. If you are seriously going to pull the "he said no fighting game characters" card after it's been established that was a misinterpretation of what he
really said, we're going to have a problem.
King Dedede.
His very own character.
....which had
absolutely nothing to do with Sakurai seeing a lack of potential.