I assume that some of the redundancy will be gathered up and used to improve the roster by better defining existing characters.
For example, the Wii Fit Trainer could very well replace Sheik. No she is not the same character and the animations are different, but the general character idea is similar. I am not saying this is the way it is going to be, but you can only have so many fragile speedsters without fancy tools (ala space animals) before you run into issues of trying to make them diverse. Going on this tangent, I would not be bothered if Jigglypuff's aerial prowess was granted to Kirby and Ike's hard-hitting swordsmanship was given to Ganondorf (though Chrom will likely replace Ike instead).
What I am getting at is you can sacrifice some characters that had underwhelming designs to create fewer meaningful choices. As long as we have 25+ characters, there is a diverse selection. Don't get me wrong, fanservice is important, but with all the key franchises covered and ****ing MEGA MAN, at this point the key focus should be on a GOOD game with varied, unique and interesting characters. With that said, I am interested to see what will become of Luigi and Ganondorf. I really hope to see some swords or sorcery from the latter.
