PROFESSOR LAYTON
Chance: 50%
I'll post something I wrote earlier:
Layton is a character I don't see mentioned much, but I think he has a realistic, though small, chance of being in the next game.
* All the main series games, as well as Layton vs Wright, are Nintendo Exclusives, and although the other spinoffs were also on iOS, so are Mario and Pokemon.
* Level 5 have released many games exclusive to Nintendo systems, such as Yokai Watch, the Inazuma Eleven series and Snack World, showing that the two companies have a good relationship, essentially being '2nd-party' developers. Despite this, Level 5 do not currently have any representation in the Smash Bros series. Furthermore, the CEO of Level 5 has said all of the companies future games will be on switch.
* The games have sold 15.5 million copies worldwide (as of April 2015).
* The series continues to be popular, with a movie already having been made, 3 novels and a manga published, as well as a series in the works.
* Level 5 have said they are working an getting a Layton game working on the switch. (rumored to release in Late Summer 2018)
* Layton and the Curious Village is the 17th highest selling DS game, ahead of both Zeldas, Warioware, and many other first party Nintendo Games. The other 3 Layton DS games are also within the top 38 highest selling DS games, all selling at least 1.91 million copies.
* Layton featured in the advertising booklets bundled with DS games in Europe, which featured mainly first party games otherwise. Layton was also displayed on the Nintendo of Europe website alongside Mario and Zelda back in the DS era. UPDATE: Layton still features 6th on a list of prominent Nintendo series here:
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Characters-Hub/Nintendo-Characters-Hub-106313.html, on a section of the Nintendo UK website that was recently updated (and placed above Kirby and Metroid); He's even specifically called a Nintendo Character.
* The official Layton twitter tweeted this:
https://twitter.com/LaytonSeries/status/863184385683595264 showing that Level 5 has at least a small interest in having Layton in the game.
* Smash currently has no other characters from a series that debuted on DS.
There is other evidence, such as a tweet from the voice actor, but I doubt the validity of this since it was published around the time of Smash 4 being developed, and there was some confusion over whether it was serious or not. I also recognise that this sort of thing could be said for many characters, and is in no way hard evidence that he could be included.There are also a lot of other people that would like to see Layton in the game, (searching twitter for layton smash finds a ton), but again, this is true for many characters.
I'd like to hear what other people think about him as a character, and if they think he should be in the game.
WANT: 100%
I love these games: they are one of my favourite game series of all time, as every game is consistent and fun to play. The ending of Lost Future is my favourite ending of all time (if you've played it you'll probably know why). Layton is by far my number 1 choice for Smash Switch, and the potential for his moveset and stage make me want him even more.
Prediction:
Waluigi: 53%
Noms: (Huh, what am I gonna nominate now)
Playable Master Hand x5