Wanted to hear someone discuss it so I'm copy pasting my predictions here:
Based on the current trends, info and statements I believe this will be the roster:
AND NOW TO RATIONALIZE IT!
The roster size is about the same as Brawl so I kept that in mind.
Mario has no more notable characters to add. Toad is not notable, Bowser Junior hardly ever does anything interesting there's really no one left.
DK is getting more popular lately and K. Rool is a visually striking consistent villain, Yoshi and Wario are a given (there's a bit of bias as to which Wario I put in though).
Link seems to be a saturated TP Link so I assume they kept that around because Sheik has no SS version. The other Link is the LttP model because the new 3DS game uses that artstyle and Toon Link shows up on the train level which leads me to believe he's out.
Samus and her Zero Suit are back, Sakurai said he knows about the demand of Ridley and that he could pull it off if he tried his best which he now has time to do.
Olimar is interesting, they may use him or they may use one of the new guys, I think they'll use him because Smash has a tendancy to never eliminate an original (Ness, Marth).
Sakurai LOVES StarFox, they aren't going anywhere and Krystal is not part of the N64 StarFox (aka the one everyone cares about) so she seems least likely.
Falcon is the man, the logo is a Falcon, no other character really makes sense and not many people actually care about having a third Captain Falcon.
The Pokemon are interesting, no one from the 64 game is leaving so we're "stuck" with Pikachu and Jigglypuff, the Trainer is a great way to represent the human being in the games and I feel they'll go with the Kanto one because while he's not the newest he's the one everyone knows and will recognize if they use one of the new kids with 3 new Pokemon a lot of the 90's guys aren't gonna know who they are, not to mention Charizard is still a really popular Pokemon. Mewtwo is another case of recognizing the character the new generation has no replacement Mewtwo and Lucario's heydey is over. The rule here is: EVERYONE knows first gen and likes it, Smash has a clear bias to first gen.
Fire Emblem has worked like this for 2 games: Keep Marth, replace the other guy with the newest guy so... here we are.
To make room for all the new characters though some need to get cut which is why I'm counting Lucas out, Ness isn't going anywhere as one of the original 12 and one of them is gone.
Game and Watch, Ice Climbers and ROB are here to stay. Ice Climbers have already been mentioned, ROB was huge in the plot of Brawl and G&W is a homage to the legend who made the GameBoy.
The new characters are all from slightly more minor games and have all been assist trophies) that have gotten some attention lately and as they are the original main character (notice a trend here?) of their series they seem most likely for new additions.
And finally 3rd party, Kojima might not want Snake in his more serious, Hollywood acted mode appearing in a game like this so I left him out (want him to make it though!) and Sonic has a 3 game exclusivity deal with Nintendo and was a huge hit and feature in the last game they probably signed the papers years ago.
And suddenly I'm not a smash apprentice anymore, yay! Whatever the heck journeyman means.
