Chance: 40%
Want: 15%
With as big a cast as Smash has, I don't know if anyone is guaranteed a slot outside of Link, Mario, and the Inklings, especially if we get as many newcomers as some people are expecting (a 70-man roster pre-DLC is a bit of a stretch, honestly). Doubly so for those characters who were already cut once. Yes, the DLC proved he has a fanbase, but I don't know if that will save him. I may be low-balling this, but DLC vets are pretty well uncharted territory. If the game is a port, they've got the assets so it's likely. If not...he's probably not the highest priority character to get rebuilt...
In terms of his importance to Nintendo, he's most famous for Smash. His game is niche, his series is dead. Plus, he's very similar to Ness in terms of gameplay - similar enough that Ness actually had Lucas' specials as customs. The only thing that's keeping Lucas on life support is his fanbase.
AND YES, I KNOW THAT LUCAS IS NOT 100% A NESS CLONE. Neither is Wolf a Fox clone. And yes, Roy has also been very nicely separated from Marth by now. Still, the people who recognize the differences most are people who put time into learning one character or the other. On the other hand, people who rarely or never play them could easily think that they have more than passing similarities
I never really played the Mother series, so I have no attachment to it, and Ness/Lucas have never been easy for me to handle. I can't say I missed him in the run up to Sm4sh, and I would personally much rather have had Wolf as a DLC over Lucas - at least Wolf did have a new game coming out at the time since his series wasn't dead (though considering how hard that flopped, that's now up for debate). Assuming only a few of the DLC characters will stick around, Lucas is definitely not in my top two (that would be the Melee vets).
Prediction for Ninja Frog: 86.5%
Nom: Skyrim something x5