Popularity is a garbage metric to select characters for Smash

[Quillion]

I've been saying it a few times, but I just really want to make a thread for it now.

The reason why I disdain "popularity" as a criterion to choose characters for Smash is that it's prone to so many different problems: it tends to be fleeting and arbitrary, and measuring it is severely prone to myopia and biases. Overall, the whole thing is just too subjective to measure.

We've seen characters like Midna and Mimikyu rapidly lose popularity after their sole games. There are even characters who are meant to be popular like Fi and even continue to appear, but still make no impact on the fandom. No two polls on which characters should be in Smash end up alike between hosts or over time. The whole metric is just a mess to keep track of.

Instead, it's better for them to choose characters based on overall prominence in their series or marketing. If the series is "fixed cast" like Mario or Kirby, then it's safer to bet on characters who repeatedly appear throughout those series. If the series is "rotating cast" like Pokémon, Fire Emblem, or Xenoblade, then focus on who appears in series-wide marketing.

If there's any room for popularity influencing what is in Smash, it should happen only by proxy: Smash should respond to the source series' responses to popularity. Like if a character in a series becomes popular, Smash should wait until that character becomes prominent in response to their popularity instead of trying to be too gung-ho about it.

 

[fogbadge]

mimikyu has not lost popularity

 

[Swamp Sensei]

mimikyu has not lost popularity

Neither has Midna.

 

[fogbadge]

Neither has Midna.

I thought so but I wasn’t sure.

 

[Quillion]

Really? It seems that the Zelda and Pokémon fandoms respectively have become indifferent to those two.

Meh, it feels like even my difficulty with finding examples to prove my point is also proving my point, as every little side of every fandom is too prone to bias and myopia.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Quil. It's really obvious that you don't actually interact with these fandoms.

Figuring out what's popular is not that hard.

 

[fogbadge]

Really? It seems that the Zelda and Pokémon fandoms respectively have become indifferent to those two.

Meh, it feels like even my difficulty with finding examples to prove my point is also proving my point, as every little side of every fandom is too prone to bias and myopia.

trust me they have not

 

[Quillion]

Quil. It's really obvious that you don't actually interact with these fandoms.

Figuring out what's popular is not that hard.

Admittedly, I've largely withdrawn from Pokémon fandom since I'm tired about all the discourse over the franchise not living up to its potential (I actually agree, but I'm still just done with it all).

Still, having to sift through all the bias to get a clear picture... doesn't work from my experience. That just applies to any fandom.

 

[fogbadge]

Admittedly, I've largely withdrawn from Pokémon fandom since I'm tired about all the discourse over the franchise not living up to its potential (I actually agree, but I'm still just done with it all).

Still, having to sift through all the bias to get a clear picture... doesn't work from my experience. That just applies to any fandom.

then how exactly did you think you knew who was still popular

 

[Quillion]

then how exactly did you think you knew who was still popular

Mainly just Reddit nowadays. At least in regards to the Zelda fandom, they're much more positive and friendly than any of its dying forums.

Even there, I don't see anyone talk about or do art on Midna nowadays.

 

[fogbadge]

Mainly just Reddit nowadays. At least in regards to the Zelda fandom, they're much more positive and friendly than any of its dying forums.

Even there, I don't see anyone talk about or do art on Midna nowadays.

reddit is one place. that’s not good enough

 

[Quillion]

reddit is one place. that’s not good enough

On DeviantArt (which I'm avoiding mainly because its search is currently defective), there's a dearth of recent Midna fanart there too. Same with fanfics on both AO3 and FF.net.

Last I checked on the Zelda forums I hate, there's also this growing idea that Tatl was an earlier and better Midna in every way.

 

[fogbadge]

On DeviantArt (which I'm avoiding mainly because its search is currently defective), there's a dearth of recent Midna fanart there too. Same with fanfics on both AO3 and FF.net.

Last I checked on the Zelda forums I hate, there's also this growing idea that Tatl was an earlier and better Midna in every way.

ok you really shouldn’t use deviantart as an example of anything

and that second one sounds more like the swivel on a dime thing people always do

 

[Geno Boost]

lol if were using deviantart as a measure of who should get in smash Gardevoir would be in smash by now

 

[MeteoRain]

Midna was never an unpopular Zelda character, her Smash support waned after losing all hope of becoming playable

 

[Mushroomguy12]

There's a large portion of characters (largely 1st Party) that had enormous amounts of popularity during Smash 4 and Ultimate's base game speculation, but when they were confirmed as Assist Trophies and to a lesser extent Mii Costumes, their fanbases largely withered away during Ultimate's DLC. Isaac, Krystal, Midna, etc.

Come the next Smash game, expect to see these fanbases flourish anew, at least during base game speculation. Ultimate again was kind of unique because it's initial reveal and the base game release was much shorter compared to Brawl and Smash 4, meaning a lot of these first parties didn't really have much time to grow their fanbases before they were "deconfirmed" and we knew the entire base game roster. On the other hand, the DLC period for Ultimate was much longer than Smash 4's DLC period, which led to the much longer focus on those big popular mega hit 3rd Parties. Again, with the next Smash game, things might be a little more even.

 

[PinkFlare]

I get the idea but I feel like there is an inherent flaw in the argument.

Being Hot and being Popular are different things, atleast in my eyes. A character can be Hot for a year or two but then fizzle out, and those are the characters I believe you are talking about (although the two examples you picked are certainly not that). Character that are popular don't die out, they become engrained into the series' fandom and those are the characters Smash typically responds to.

Truth be told I cannot think of any "Hot"-esque characters currently on that roster (that isn't Fire Emblem).

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Truth be told I cannot think of any "Hot"-esque characters currently on that roster (that isn't Fire Emblem).

And even then only Corrin has really fallen off in a meaningful way. And they still won a popularity poll in spite of that.

 

[Quillion]

Midna was never an unpopular Zelda character, her Smash support waned after losing all hope of becoming playable

I'm not saying she's unpopular, just that her series fandom has largely moved on from her past her relevance period. And honestly, I never saw any support for her for Smash 4 and beyond (past her relevance period).

There's a large portion of characters (largely 1st Party) that had enormous amounts of popularity during Smash 4 and Ultimate's base game speculation, but when they were confirmed as Assist Trophies and to a lesser extent Mii Costumes, their fanbases largely withered away during Ultimate's DLC. Isaac, Krystal, Midna, etc.

Come the next Smash game, expect to see these fanbases flourish anew, at least during base game speculation. Ultimate again was kind of unique because it's initial reveal and the base game release was much shorter compared to Brawl and Smash 4, meaning a lot of these first parties didn't really have much time to grow their fanbases before they were "deconfirmed" and we knew the entire base game roster. On the other hand, the DLC period for Ultimate was much longer than Smash 4's DLC period, which led to the much longer focus on those big popular mega hit 3rd Parties. Again, with the next Smash game, things might be a little more even.

Speaking as someone who actively begs for same-game assist trophy promotions... I really don't think the same characters who became popular in speculation in Ultimate will be the same who will get popular in next game's speculation. There's a reason why Pokémon from gens far too back and Zelda one-shots also from games too far back won't get anywhere even in speculation (though they will if and only if there's a marketing boost).

I get the idea but I feel like there is an inherent flaw in the argument.

Being Hot and being Popular are different things, atleast in my eyes. A character can be Hot for a year or two but then fizzle out, and those are the characters I believe you are talking about (although the two examples you picked are certainly not that). Character that are popular don't die out, they become engrained into the series' fandom and those are the characters Smash typically responds to.

Truth be told I cannot think of any "Hot"-esque characters currently on that roster (that isn't Fire Emblem).

There's Jigglypuff, and that's because it suffers from being a non-Legendary with a dearth of marketing since Gen I (I have seen it here and there, but not in any real standout capacity).

Sheik is also that way if you disregard Melee's competitive. She actually was considered Zelda's best incarnation prior to the Wild Saga for her actions as Sheik alone (especially since looking back, it's really not that much beyond exposition).

Pit's a case of Smash making him "Hot"/Flavor-of-the-Month, as Sakurai and his company actually built a game out of his redesign in Brawl. Sakurai having no opportunity to make a lower-budget experiment like Uprising for the Switch and being locked into making Smash games cooled his audience.

Even a lot of people are starting to sour on Isabelle of all characters, feeling like she played her role in New Leaf and ONLY New Leaf.

 

[PinkFlare]

There's Jigglypuff, and that's because it suffers from being a non-Legendary with a dearth of marketing since Gen I (I have seen it here and there, but not in any real standout capacity).

Sheik is also that way if you disregard Melee's competitive. She actually was considered Zelda's best incarnation prior to the Wild Saga for her actions as Sheik alone (especially since looking back, it's really not that much beyond exposition).

Pit's a case of Smash making him "Hot"/Flavor-of-the-Month, as Sakurai and his company actually built a game out of his redesign in Brawl. Sakurai having no opportunity to make a lower-budget experiment like Uprising for the Switch and being locked into making Smash games cooled his audience.

Even a lot of people are starting to sour on Isabelle of all characters, feeling like she played her role in New Leaf and ONLY New Leaf.

Jigglypuff could've been Hot just during the Smash 64 era but nowadays she is easily one of the most iconic Pokémon around and is definitely popular in her own right. It could be because of Smash, but it wouldn't alter the point.

Sheik I can see an argument for, since unlike Jigglypuff she isn't that popular in her own fandom due to her being just being Zelda in disguise, and generally not appearing in any other mainline game since unliked Puff. However I do chalk it up to her primarily serving the transformation gimmick and later just becoming an irremoveable staple of the Smash line-up; Even besides that, the game she originates from, OoT, is still one of the Top 2/3 Zelda games ever made, only surpassed by the recent BotW games, and she played a significant role in that game alone so she also isn't unnoticeable by any means.

Pit was much more of a Retro pick than anything else, but I can agree that Smash is what made him Hot. Even still, he is popular in his own right now and has his own legacy due to Kid Icarus being an early Nintendo platformer and later having a fan-favorited revival game afterwards. He is by no means flavor of the month anymore.

I can't speak much on Isabelle but I feel like she fits the bill of "becoming prominent in her own series" that you described in your original post; She's undeniably a mascot of AC and has shown up in every game since then with her face being on the cover of each game. Also not flavor of the month anymore, just like Pit, except it was entirely legitimate due to his being in her own series rather than Smash driving that popularity (not that Pit's popularity is illegitimate by any means)

 

[Quillion]

Jigglypuff could've been Hot just during the Smash 64 era but nowadays she is easily one of the most iconic Pokémon around and is definitely popular in her own right. It could be because of Smash, but it wouldn't alter the point.

It seems more that Jigglypuff is more popular thanks to Gen 1 nostalgia, and at least Smash elevates it above say Clefairy. But it's nowhere near say Eevee or Mewtwo as an actual icon.

Sheik I can see an argument for, since unlike Jigglypuff she isn't that popular in her own fandom due to her being just being Zelda in disguise, and generally not appearing in any other mainline game since unliked Puff. However I do chalk it up to her primarily serving the transformation gimmick and later just becoming an irremoveable staple of the Smash line-up; Even besides that, the game she originates from, OoT, is still one of the Top 2/3 Zelda games ever made, only surpassed by the recent BotW games, and she played a significant role in that game alone so she also isn't unnoticeable by any means.

Still, the fact that Smash has neither repeated Sheik's example as a one-off nor that Nintendo has never marketed any other one-off character no matter how successful the game is is rather telling. Not even BotW's success brought another one-off character into Ultimate.

Pit was much more of a Retro pick than anything else, but I can agree that Smash is what made him Hot. Even still, he is popular in his own right now and has his own legacy due to Kid Icarus being an early Nintendo platformer and later having a fan-favorited revival game afterwards. He is by no means flavor of the month anymore.

I did forget that the original KI was a fairly popular game, I'll give you that.

I can't speak much on Isabelle but I feel like she fits the bill of "becoming prominent in her own series" that you described in your original post; She's undeniably a mascot of AC and has shown up in every game since then with her face being on the cover of each game. Also not flavor of the month anymore, just like Pit, except it was entirely legitimate due to his being in her own series rather than Smash driving that popularity (not that Pit's popularity is illegitimate by any means)

She was very prominent in New Leaf, but the combination of New Horizons reducing her role plus fans souring on her doesn't bode well for her prominence.

 

[PinkFlare]

It seems more that Jigglypuff is more popular thanks to Gen 1 nostalgia, and at least Smash elevates it above say Clefairy. But it's nowhere near say Eevee or Mewtwo as an actual icon.

Still, the fact that Smash has neither repeated Sheik's example as a one-off nor that Nintendo has never marketed any other one-off character no matter how successful the game is is rather telling. Not even BotW's success brought another one-off character into Ultimate.

She was very prominent in New Leaf, but the combination of New Horizons reducing her role plus fans souring on her doesn't bode well for her prominence.

I agree that Puff isn't really as iconic as Eevee or Mewtwo, but she still is well past being Flavor of the Month by all regards and I'd stand by that; I'd probably place her above MaChamp, Diglett, and probably even Ivysaur. Although, 25 years into Smash and with a perfect attendance across all 5 games, her status should be solidified imo, otherwise she'd have been cut long ago.

Again, I feel like Sheik also got in on the merit that she is connected to Zelda and Sakurai's idea for a 2-in-1 moveset, which definitely played a factor in trying to make Zelda a more popular fighter back in Melee. It's worth noting we still haven't gotten any Zelda character that's not connected to the Triforce Trio, which in of itself is an issue but I wouldn't attribute it to Sheik being Flavor-of-the-Month. Although, I agree she is still the odd one out of the Zelda cast due to her being the only one to not be in more than 1 game.

As for Isabelle, it could lead to a diminishing in her prominence but she is still is a series mascot at the current moment. It could change but between New Horizons and all the Spin-Offs such as Campsite she seems to be in a good spot for continued appearances in her own franchise. Although I'm honestly not crazy into AC so I'm gonna concede from here on out in regards to Isabelle

 

[Quillion]

PinkFlare : I'm sure all of those characters will stay on for legacy reasons, given Sakurai's explicit distate for cuts.

Still though, given that TPC has stopped capitalizing on Jigglypuff's popularity, Nintendo has never really capitalized on Sheik, and over-capitalizing on Isabelle outright led to fans being burned out on her, I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo's own hand might play a role in cuts given their higher control of the series past Melee.

 

[fogbadge]

PinkFlare : I'm sure all of those characters will stay on for legacy reasons, given Sakurai's explicit distate for cuts.

Still though, given that TPC has stopped capitalizing on Jigglypuff's popularity, Nintendo has never really capitalized on Sheik, and over-capitalizing on Isabelle outright led to fans being burned out on her, I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo's own hand might play a role in cuts given their higher control of the series past Melee.

how are fans burnt out on Isabelle?

 

[AlRex]

Depends on what is meant by popularity. Without having done Smash before, Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Kirby, Pikachu, etc. would obviously be popular picks for a Nintendo themed fighter, and Sonic, Pac-Man, Cloud, Ryu, Steve, etc. for an overall video game themed one. I assume you mean fleeting popularity, though, judging by the examples.

 

[Quillion]

Depends on what is meant by popularity. Without having done Smash before, Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Kirby, Pikachu, etc. would obviously be popular picks for a Nintendo themed fighter, and Sonic, Pac-Man, Cloud, Ryu, Steve, etc. for an overall video game themed one. I assume you mean fleeting popularity, though, judging by the examples.

Yeah, but without the creators responding to and capitalizing on popularity in the first place, all popularity is fleeting ultimately.

 

[fogbadge]

Yeah, but without the creators responding to and capitalizing on popularity in the first place, all popularity is fleeting ultimately.

tell that to the geno fans

 

[Quillion]

tell that to the geno fans

And yet Geno's popularity would start burning itself out and attract a backlash.

It would take Nintendo literally capitalizing it to restore itself.

 

[Dinoman96]

tell that to the geno fans

To be fair, contrary to popular belief, Geno's vocal Smash Bros. support did die for a good awhile after the Brawl era. It literally was, as Quillion put it, Sakurai responding to and capitalizing on his prior popularity with the Mii outfit that brought his fanbase back into the limelight for Ultimate and beyond, and obviously the Mario RPG remake has only further stabilized it.

 

[fogbadge]

To be fair, contrary to popular belief, Geno's vocal Smash Bros. support did die for a good awhile after the Brawl era. It literally was, as Quillion put it, Sakurai responding to and capitalizing on his prior popularity with the Mii outfit that brought his fanbase back into the limelight for Ultimate and beyond, and obviously the Mario RPG remake has only further stabilized it.

it’s hard to tell, they’ve been going on about it for ages

 

[Dinoman96]

it’s hard to tell, they’ve been going on about it for ages

I mean it mostly did die down a lot during Smash 4.

Geno (♥♪!?): Return of the Starsend Savior #Geno4Smash - Everyone's gotta do their part! Vote Geno

“I serve… a higher authority…” This will be the main topic for discussion the character potential of Geno, one of the main characters from the game "Mario RPG" for the Super Nintendo. I'll update as I think up more information or people post something good. For those interested, his...

smashboards.com

Granted I guess 94 pages is still arguably kinda a lot for a character like him, but at the same time, you'll see how way smaller it is in comparison to his Brawl and Smash Ultimate threads, which definitely shows that there was bit of a slump in his fanbase for a good awhile.

The Official Geno Thread

Woo, the official Geno thread! This thread will encompass all specific talk about Geno, the star-possessed scarecrow doll from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars! So let's get right to it: List of games Geno has appeared in: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars Mario &...

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Geno (♥♪!?): Return of the Starsend Savior

“I serve… a higher authority…” This will be the main topic for discussion the character potential of Geno, one of the main characters from the game "Mario RPG" for the Super Nintendo. I'll update as I think up more information or people post something good. For those interested, his Japanese...

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[Kirbeh]

Characters need to be popular enough and retain said popularity to gain icon status, so I have to disagree here. I can agree that it shouldn't be the only metric, but it already isn't and never was.

I'll also have to back the others on your lack of connection to these other fanbases. I think that's the case for most people though, no one person can truly say they have their finger on the pulse of such large communities spread across multiple sites/languages. That said, and I mean no offense, but you in particular are often significantly out of touch. Everyone's got their own ideas, tastes, etc. but yours just happen to not align with that of others' a lot of the time.

You tend to (at least on this site) occupy a niche all your own as your ideas and opinions tend to stray from most other users/fans. On most occasions you are the minority here.

Again, I mean no offense, but a lot of your posts/threads like this often read like venting your frustrations about developers not following very particular practices that meet your personal tastes. And I do think you've got some cool/interesting ideas (I genuinely like a lot of your more general discussion threads on the platform fighter end of things,) but in cases such as this, it's hard to even gauge what you even want.

Back to the topic at hand, yeah, as said above, I can agree popularity isn't the metric that should matter most. But also again, it hasn't been. And beyond that, your metric is (imo) still too ill defined nor necessarily objective (mostly because there isn't any such method).

 

[Quillion]

Characters need to be popular enough and retain said popularity to gain icon status, so I have to disagree here. I can agree that it shouldn't be the only metric, but it already isn't and never was.

I'll also have to back the others on your lack of connection to these other fanbases. I think that's the case for most people though, no one person can truly say they have their finger on the pulse of such large communities spread across multiple sites/languages. That said, and I mean no offense, but you in particular are often significantly out of touch. Everyone's got their own ideas, tastes, etc. but yours just happen to not align with that of others' a lot of the time.

You tend to (at least on this site) occupy a niche all your own as your ideas and opinions tend to stray from most other users/fans. On most occasions you are the minority here.

Again, I mean no offense, but a lot of your posts/threads like this often read like venting your frustrations about developers not following very particular practices that meet your personal tastes. And I do think you've got some cool/interesting ideas (I genuinely like a lot of your more general discussion threads on the platform fighter end of things,) but in cases such as this, it's hard to even gauge what you even want.

Back to the topic at hand, yeah, as said above, I can agree popularity isn't the metric that should matter most. But also again, it hasn't been. And beyond that, your metric is (imo) still too ill defined nor necessarily objective (mostly because there isn't any such method).

I guess a lot of it is that I've grown cynical over echo chambering and debates that I'm a bit too aware of the diversity within any large group of people. And that's not just media fandoms, EVERY large gathering of people for any reasons.

Still, I think responding only to what each source material's company is doing is a lot easier to keep track of than trying in vain to keep track of each fandom.

 

[Kirbeh]

I guess a lot of it is that I've grown cynical over echo chambering and debates that I'm a bit too aware of the diversity within any large group of people. And that's not just media fandoms, EVERY large gathering of people for any reasons.

Still, I think responding only to what each source material's company is doing is a lot easier to keep track of than trying in vain to keep track of each fandom.

And I think that's perfectly fair, but you have to bear in mind that the companies themselves are often out of touch themselves. Take Ninty's surprise about fans wanting K. Rool for example. Moreover, a lot of characters do stand the test of time within their communities but simply aren't given a chance to continue their time in the spotlight due a dev/series moving on to other things. I won't argue that Midna, Skull Kid or the champions are as iconic as the core trio for example but they're still beloved characters all the same.

Continuing with the Zelda example; why hasn't it gotten the same treatment as FE or Pokémon exactly? Well, we'll probably never be privy to that information, but whatever the case, while Sakurai and Nintendo haven't prioritized another Zelda character it's not for lack of wanting/recognition from fans. Regardless of their reasoning however, continually leaving the series without a newcomer for several games now is something I think could be argued is also them being out of touch with their audience (among a number of other things for that matter, but that's an entirely different conversation.)

As for your growing cynicism, I can't say that I even blame you. I visit this site because I've been obsessed with Smash since grade school, but I continually leave or just lurk for extended periods because it gets tiresome seeing the same circular conversations over and over. Can't say that I have much that I can say for other sites or irl situations where you might feel that way, but while you're here just remember that we're all just a bunch of obsessive nerds who pay too much attention to a video game.

I will admit, I think you've got a lot strange takes too, but I do enjoy reading your perspective whether it sparks some new ideas or leaves me scratching my head. If I may offer some constructive criticism though, you do come off a bit headstrong sometimes. Not in this thread thus far mind you, but you do get a tad stubborn/defensive on other topics at times. I get that having the minority opinion and often a lot of opposition is frustrating but a lot of it does just come down to your tastes being a bit more hyper specific compared to others.

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Character popularity can be a valid factor if it is backed up by concrete evidence like official polls and such, otherwise popularity based argument can boil down to meaningless anecdotes. Something like the main character status is a lot more concrete and less debatable.

 

[WeirdChillFever]

In theory I agree, but in practice a character’s popularity in speculation is much more fickle than the general fanbase’s popularity anyway. I can’t think of many characters whose popularity in a Smash-specific context is higher and steadier than their popularity in general. As for the current Smash roster, I’d wager you have made more threads about this issue than there are characters on the roster to which it actually applies.

 

[UserKev]

I do feel like a (one point) popularity should merit as a basis for a character's entrance. Legacy should be the biggest factor, how big the character was rather than recent relevancy. Lesser popular characters should really intrigue Sakurai more if anything.

 

[Oracle Link]

I've been saying it a few times, but I just really want to make a thread for it now.

The reason why I disdain "popularity" as a criterion to choose characters for Smash is that it's prone to so many different problems: it tends to be fleeting and arbitrary, and measuring it is severely prone to myopia and biases. Overall, the whole thing is just too subjective to measure.

We've seen characters like Midna and Mimikyu rapidly lose popularity after their sole games. There are even characters who are meant to be popular like Fi and even continue to appear, but still make no impact on the fandom. No two polls on which characters should be in Smash end up alike between hosts or over time. The whole metric is just a mess to keep track of.

Instead, it's better for them to choose characters based on overall prominence in their series or marketing. If the series is "fixed cast" like Mario or Kirby, then it's safer to bet on characters who repeatedly appear throughout those series. If the series is "rotating cast" like Pokémon, Fire Emblem, or Xenoblade, then focus on who appears in series-wide marketing.

If there's any room for popularity influencing what is in Smash, it should happen only by proxy: Smash should respond to the source series' responses to popularity. Like if a character in a series becomes popular, Smash should wait until that character becomes prominent in response to their popularity instead of trying to be too gung-ho about it.

Well midna is still incredibly beloved and stood the test of time! To this day shes called The Best Companion!
And Fi Isnt "Meant to be popular" The Reason she reapears is beacuse SHE IS The master sword so throwing in a quick glow and her voice is easy try justifyiyng midna? First of the gateway is permanantly broken and second of the original midna is LITERALLY dead!
The Fact you didnt mention Zelda under either of those franchise ends suggests you are one of the Only Triforce bearer people which i dislike!
Zelda has a fixed main cast: Link as an adult, Link as a child/ Cartoon, Zelda, Impa, Ganon(Dorf)
and than HAs some roatating side characters! But its incrdeibly easy to come up with a decent accdepted list i have one right here:

(Champion) Link Reps Modern Zelda
(General) Toon Link Doubles as rep for wind waker and other 2d zelda titles
Zelda Its honestly fine if zelda only receives one slot as shes pretty minore gameplay wise
(New Moveset) Ganondorf Hes the main villain and g dorf is more popular
Impa Shes the main sheikah so she shouldve been in smash in the first place
Skull kid Is THE MOST popular antagonist behind ganon and apeared (mask or the imp himself) in tons of games
Midna the so called Best Companion
Daruk/ Yunobo Is an aditional rep for the modern only fans and reps the second most reapering race in zelda as a whole!

There is a reason why those stay in almost all my smash movesets some of them are popular YES BUT theyve proven themselves beyond popularity and as a whole these characters (with no alts btw) Represent all of zelda almost flawlessly they are 8 characters (same as Mario, Pokemon AND Fire emblem) meaning they are not too many!

Keep in mind i ignored sheik because Zelda and Impa are already there just assume impa was chosen for meele!

This List isnt even affected slightly by my Bias (otherwise "Toy" Link and octorok would be there!) Its Just my personal opinion on the best Zelda 8 Character choices possible!

 

[True Blue Warrior]

Regardless of their reasoning however, continually leaving the series without a newcomer for several games now is something I think could be argued is also them being out of touch with their audience (among a number of other things for that matter, but that's an entirely different conversation.)

Honestly speaking the best chance to change Sakurai’s mind on further Zelda characters would have been in 2015 with the ballot, but since Midna, Skull Kid and Ghirahim were Assist Trophies, hope for these characters would have been much lower which would have negatively affected fan demand.

You could also argue that the fact that each newcomer can take up to a year of development time means they’d be more particular in terms of responding to online people. Vocal minorities exists and whilst I’m not saying that the desire for more Zelda characters is an example of this, it could have been perceived as such due to the ballot.

 

[Quillion]

In theory I agree, but in practice a character’s popularity in speculation is much more fickle than the general fanbase’s popularity anyway. I can’t think of many characters whose popularity in a Smash-specific context is higher and steadier than their popularity in general. As for the current Smash roster, I’d wager you have made more threads about this issue than there are characters on the roster to which it actually applies.

There's Jigglypuff and Sheik at bare minimum.