Roster Prediction Discussion Thread

[Opossum]

I hate that people seem so cut-happy nowadays. Anyway, expect a slightly-revised roster from me sometime today.

 

[TKactual]

Well that figures. My computer won't open the roster creator because my computer says that it is protecting itself from it. Because it doesn't recognize it. Well I guess no roster from me then.

 

[papagenos]

Cuts are just likely given what we know and how Sakurai has treated smash in the past. Brawl dissappointed me 3-5 more characters and it would have been what I hoped for but glaring issues about who got in, the amount of "way to similar semi-clones" characters taking spots instead of interesting completely new characters a few deserving series not getting reps (animal crossing comes to mind, fixed now).

all I am hoping for this time is the roster I wanted for brawl, not the roster I wanted for future games just the one that added those few more characters and maybe had some better choices instead of the "way to similar" characters, thus im ok with some cuts and I'll be happy to finally get the brawl I wanted so many years later.

my biggest fear is sonic or snake being cut...or both, that will not sit well with me especially if sonic is cut, not that im a huge sonic fan but I have this dream of playing a smash game where it isn't who sakurai wants in it's who deserves to be in, like if they just said how many spots did an online poll with every reasonably possible character and just made THAT game. oh well, again just hoping for the version of brawl I wish we got, not the game after.

 

[Thirdkoopa]

hey do people want me to do a roster again i can be very entertaining and lulzy

I hate that people seem so cut-happy nowadays. Anyway, expect a slightly-revised roster from me sometime today.

^ This. Just because Sakurai's cutting a few characters doesn't mean he's cutting many. Realistically (Shut up Young Link fans I don't care.) he only cut four characters, and each cut was justifiable. Pokemon already had a lot especially from the first Gen and people all over were saying how Mewtwo was awkward and floaty bottom tier, and chances are considering his plans or being in other Smash games, he probably was going to be in anyways. Roy is justifiable because at the time FE was on the brink of ending (Not to Awakening where they WERE going to end it) and was really a semi-clone and FE already had two reps. Dr. Mario and Pichu... I don't need to explain those.

Almost nobody on the Brawl roster deserves to be cut. The only three characters I can even think of (As I was saying earlier) that I would if I were developing would be Toon Link (Which even then could be remodeled etc), Falco (While he is important, Krystal/Slippy hold about equal importance, but it's okay to have both him and Krystal) and R.O.B. (I felt a lot of his inclusion was because of SSE, but even then you can keep him) - Speaking of which that's pretty much all I have to say on if Krystal should be cut for another character because Falco's made his debut twice at this point so it's pointless to just remove when you can have both and Wolf's more important to the series than any of the danged partners.

As for Zoroark, even when he was popular, asides from being 5th gen's mascot, I can find less reasons for him than Chrom. His time passed on incredibly fast.

 

[papagenos]

toon link, falco, wolf, lucario, ike, lucas, snake, and sonic are all in the line of fire for cuts for various reasons.

I don't see R.O.B. being cut, sakurai made him so important to subspace unnecessary mode that I think he likes the guy a lot, and this IS entirely up to how sakurai feels... and yes subspace should have been cut to make room for another character, no one cares about 1-player mode in smash after about a day of playing it.

 

[FalKoopa]

ThirdKoopa seems to dislike ROB. :/

Afaik, Brawl's roster did not have any filler content. Realistically, I think only Toon Link is in danger of being cut.

Also, the characters who survived the jump from Melee to Brawl looks like a "cannot cut" to me. Dunno about others.

 

[volbound1700]

I think a lot of people are being unrealistic about the rosters. Most of them are way too big, even if only larger by a few characters. Anything over 40 (not including transformations) is, to me, being overly optimistic given what Sakurai has said about the game. He mentioned over and over again that he doesn't like having larger rosters as it makes him feel like he's "fattening up the game". I somewhat agree. I also laugh hard at people who want to remove Jigglypuff. She's Japan's Pikachu, in case you didn't realise.

As for the predictions, mine are simple and as follows:
Mewtwo replaces Lucario. His new form appears in the game somehow, if it is not his main model.
I feel as if R.O.B. has been replaced as the WTF character by WFT
Wolf, I feel, is going to be removed and replaced with another Star Fox character, as I don't see Falco leaving after two games. Hopefully not Krystal
Pokemon Trainer... I think will be changed, somehow.
Little Mac is almost certain to be in.
Chrom will be the new Ike.
Megaman replaces Snake
Classic Sonic replaces Modern Sonic (I wish)

EDIT: Oh, and Toon Link will be replaced with another Zelda character. Maybe Ghirahim.

Why?

From 64 to Melee we had 27-12 = 15 new characters
From Melee to Brawl we had 27-35 = 12 new characters (actually more since we had 5 cuts so you can actually say 17)

I suspect we will have at least 12 new characters added this time which puts it in high 40s perhaps more characters. Sakurai acts like he wants to go all out.

Someone fact check the numbers since I really got them off the top of my head.

 

[FalKoopa]

Melee had 26 characters actually.

 

[Ray Robo]

I do expect more characters than brawl, but not the same increase of 12+ characters from the previous installments. The roster size is already large, but I'd also like to see more individual character diversity rather than 3-4 clones. And I don't see them cutting any more than 4 characters from brawl. There was already an article about how depressed Sakurai gets when he has to think about cutting a character.

 

[Hotfeet444]

A roster prediction? All I can say is that there's only two characters I'm looking for...

Everything else, I don't mind, these two are the only characters that will make me generally disappointed if they don't get in, especially since they're both characters who should be in the game. And yes, I did draw both these pictures.

 

[Thirdkoopa]

ThirdKoopa seems to dislike ROB. :/

I never fully said I did. He's one of my least favorite characters on the Roster? Sure. Does that mean I dislike him? Considering I was one of the first people to praise the Brawl roster in almost every way? No.

Even I said myself if I were developing. Frankly, if I were developing, the #1 thing I WOULD try to do would be to keep all characters including the first-parties.

 

[TheCreator]

I can't STAND the people who think that lots of cuts are immenant. Like, for example ive heard people say that in order for mewtwo to come back, replacing Lucario is how he'd do it. Or for Chrom to make it, Ike would go byebye. And the whole Krystal star fox ordeal, geez.
Cutting a character to put in a new character defeats the purpose of adding the character. He's not 'replacing' anybody on the roster nor has he before.
ROB stays. Wolf and Falco stay, Star fox gets no new characters. Ike stays. Chrom makes it. Lucario stays. Mewtwo makes it. Sonic and Snake stay for sure.
Pacman makes it, because NamcoBandai icon of gaming, in sakurai's words a "special situation"
Dillon makes it because of the sense of variety he adds, Because he's a cool character and sakurai likes that, and because he's a brand spanking new IP.
Little mac makes it of course. derf
Toon Link is cut. Im not sure why they did it, but he's part of a stage. Don't worry, we'll get some other version of link. Probably the one from ALBW.
Tingle is 50/50.
Game and Watch stays. Cap. Falcon stays. Olimar stays. Pikmin may get another character, depending on what they do with Olimar's moves.
Wario could very well likely get a second rep. A warioware character or Waluigi.
KI will almost definantly get a new rep as well, maybe Palutena or Medusa.
Dk gets another rep. Likely K.rool, but if not then one of the kongs playable in DKC:TF that aren't playable already.
Earthbound stays the same.
If mario gets another rep. Bowser jr.
Metroid gets Ridley, finally.

 

[volbound1700]

I got my most wanted newcomer in Megaman, now I am more concerned about cuts than about newcomers honestly.

 

[Thirdkoopa]

I can't STAND the people who think that lots of cuts are immenant. Like, for example ive heard people say that in order for mewtwo to come back, replacing Lucario is how he'd do it. Or for Chrom to make it, Ike would go byebye. And the whole Krystal star fox ordeal, geez.

Dear TheCreator,

Most people here don't know how game design works, and even when they do, they've got cut hungry without knowing anything about their perspective series, nontheless, Smash popularity (Which most if not all Brawl newcomers were well received)

Love, TK.

 

[BluePikmin11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekken_3D:_Prime_Edition
Well according to here, the 3ds version of tekken 3d had a roster for up to 41.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Street_Fighter_IV:_3D_Edition
While SSF4 had 35 characters total in the 3DS version.
It's got me a little worried that SSB3DS won't be able to handle many more characters with more than 40.

 

[Sharkarat]

Wario could very well likely get a second rep. A warioware character or Waluigi.

Waluigi wouldn't be a Wario rep.

 

[Hotfeet444]

I can't STAND the people who think that lots of cuts are immenant. Like, for example ive heard people say that in order for mewtwo to come back, replacing Lucario is how he'd do it. Or for Chrom to make it, Ike would go byebye. And the whole Krystal star fox ordeal, geez.
Cutting a character to put in a new character defeats the purpose of adding the character. He's not 'replacing' anybody on the roster nor has he before.
ROB stays. Wolf and Falco stay, Star fox gets no new characters. Ike stays. Chrom makes it. Lucario stays. Mewtwo makes it. Sonic and Snake stay for sure.
Pacman makes it, because NamcoBandai icon of gaming, in sakurai's words a "special situation"
Dillon makes it because of the sense of variety he adds, Because he's a cool character and sakurai likes that, and because he's a brand spanking new IP.
Little mac makes it of course. derf
Toon Link is cut. Im not sure why they did it, but he's part of a stage. Don't worry, we'll get some other version of link. Probably the one from ALBW.
Tingle is 50/50.
Game and Watch stays. Cap. Falcon stays. Olimar stays. Pikmin may get another character, depending on what they do with Olimar's moves.
Wario could very well likely get a second rep. A warioware character or Waluigi.
KI will almost definantly get a new rep as well, maybe Palutena or Medusa.
Dk gets another rep. Likely K.rool, but if not then one of the kongs playable in DKC:TF that aren't playable already.
Earthbound stays the same.
If mario gets another rep. Bowser jr.
Metroid gets Ridley, finally.

Most of this I can agree with, but there are definitely going to be cuts, Sakurai already stated this. Toon Link and Lucario are the only characters as of now that are definite goners. Lucario has no reason to stay, especially considering aside from his one movie appearance, he's a pokemon that plays no importance to the franchise, unlike a pokemon such as Mewtwo. Not to mention we're far past the fourth gen and it doesn't deserve special treatment. And I highly doubt Dillon is getting in, he's a character that hasn't made nearly as much an impact as other potential characters, and with the roster going to be smaller than what we imagined overall, there are many miscellaneous characters that take priority over Dillon, such as Takamaru, Little Mac, Shulk and etc. Also going to add in that Waluigi is a Mario character and has absolutely no connection to the Wario franchise, so that's not going to happen. I'd also put Paper Mario ahead of Bowser Jr.

 

[TheCreator]

Waluigi wouldn't be a Wario rep.

Yes he would. Don't throw up that 'technically he is in more mario games than anything else' card, because I don't give a **** and Sakurai wouldn't either. He and Wario are partners and possibly brothers, I'm not sure. He'd get in as a Wario character before anything else. Under those circumstances, wario COULD have verywell been a mario franchise character too.
But he is Wario's luigi, and if he made it, it would be with wario.
I really think his chances are miniscule though.

Edit. Ok well, technically speaking. He would be very likely to be a Mario character. It just doesn;t seem like he would, you know?
Seems like as a mario character he would have no chance at all.

 

[Opossum]

So yeah, another roster update.

Woo!

 

[Hotfeet444]

Yes he would. Don't throw up that 'technically he is in more mario games than anything else' card, because I don't give a **** and Sakurai wouldn't either. He and Wario are partners and possibly brothers, I'm not sure. He'd get in as a Wario character before anything else. Under those circumstances, wario COULD have verywell been a mario franchise character too.
But he is Wario's luigi, and if he made it, it would be with wario.
I really think his chances are miniscule though.

That still doesn't change the fact that he's never appeared in a Wario title, either WarioWare or Warioland, which means he's not a Wario character in the slightest. He was designed in the MARIO spin-off titles and has never ventured outside of them, meaning that he is indeed a Mario character and probably always will be a Mario character as this character has never shown any signs of having adventures or appearing in any other titles aside from Sports, Parties and Kart Racing. It's like counting Bomberman as a Wario character because they had a crossover game. (Actually, that gives more merit to Bomberman being a Wario character than Waluigi...at least he's been in the same game as Wario that wasn't a spin-off title)

 

[BluePikmin11]

Needs Pac-Man and Mii..
Only guys you need to include really.

 

[Hotfeet444]

So yeah, another roster update.

Woo!

It's...okay-ish. The main issue I see is that you're over-representing Pokemon, which should not go beyond the reps of the Mario franchise, and that Roy is back while ignoring a character from Fire Emblem Awakening. In the short 6 or so months it's been out in North America, it's quickly become the most successful game in the franchise (At least in North America), so there's no way that's just going to be overlooked. Also, there's barely any new characters from new series, which is confusing. But hey, you have Ridley and Mewtwo, so I'll give you points for that.

 

[Moon Monkey]

So yeah, another roster update.

Woo!

I like this roster, the only thing I would personally want is Pac-man, but that's just a personal thing. I'd definitely be happy with this roster!

 

[BluePikmin11]

Also Oppossum, it needs retro newcomers, Sakurai said he wants to bring retro characters into Smash.
And you have no new retros in sight.

 

[Banjodorf]

So yeah, another roster update.

Woo!

The shape is just so...interesting. I love it! I'm great with this one. In fact, let's keep it forever. Please Sakurai? All I want for Birthday 2014 is this. All of it. Inside me.

>.>

Anyway. Yeah. You know what else I notice? The new character designs are so much better looking than the Brawl designs. Even just looking at Kriby vs. MK, just...damn.

Dat DK and Link.

Also Oppossum, it needs retro newcomers, Sakurai said he wants to bring retro characters into Smash.
And you have no new retros in sight.

Takamaru's right next to Palutena, yo!

 

[FalKoopa]

Also Oppossum, it needs retro newcomers, Sakurai said he wants to bring retro characters into Smash.
And you have no new retros in sight.

He included Takamaru.

 

[Hotfeet444]

I know nobody's probably supporting this character but...does anyone have any love for Giygas/Giegue?!

........No? Okay.

 

[BluePikmin11]

The shape is just so...interesting. I love it! I'm great with this one. In fact, let's keep it forever. Please Sakurai? All I want for Birthday 2014 is this. All of it. Inside me.

>.>

Anyway. Yeah. You know what else I notice? The new character designs are so much better looking than the Brawl designs. Even just looking at Kriby vs. MK, just...damn.

Dat DK and Link.



Takamaru's right next to Palutena, yo!

I'm really blind today,
Needs just one more retro though.

 

[Banjodorf]

I'm really blind today,
Needs just one more retro though.

I'd be all for a certain slightly-unclean-because-of-wet-dirt mammal. Perhaps some sort of digging creature, can't quite put my face on it...

 

[BluePikmin11]

I'd be all for a certain little-froggy-snakey-prince. Perhaps some sort of special kind of transforming prince, can't quite put my face on it...

Fixed..

 

[Deleted member]

Cuts have not been confirmed to occur, stop saying they have. I'd like to bring this to everyone's attention:

Note: I will be using transformation when discussing the number of characters, not the number of slots. Sakurai considers Melee to have twenty-six characters and Brawl to have thirty-nine characters.

So far, we have received twelve characters (nine veterans and three newcomers) and there is also a very legitimate leak that if true, confirms Pac-Man, Mii and Little Mac on the roster as well, bringing us to fifteen. Along with other news, there is a ton of hype surrounding the new game. However, there is also concern about the roster as it has been confirmed that there will be universal roster (meaning the roster is the same on both versions). Because of this announcement, many people have been under the assumption that the roster will have a similar size to that of Brawl or just a slight increase (below forty-five characters). But when we take a look at all the information that's going around, this isn't likely to happen.

Take a look at the link that confirms universal roster. When Sakurai was discussing if all of the veterans from Melee and Brawl would return, he had this to say on the matter:

"The reality of the situation unfortunately is that there are certain limitations on the 3DS," Sakurai said. The 3DS and Wii U versions of the next Smash Bros will have the same library of characters.

"So we're forced into the situation where we may need to reduce some characters to a certain degree, but we're really working hard in order to include as many characters as possible."

At first glance, this would make most people overreact, especially for those expecting fifty or more characters. It seems as because the 3DS is as powerful if not more so than the Wii that a similar roster size to Brawl is inevitable, but when taking a closer look at it, nothing of such is indicated and as a matter of fact, the same quote seems to contradict this.

So we're forced into the situation where we may need to reduce some characters to a certain degree

Take a look at the bolded, especially at the "may" part. The "may" indicates that he hasn't cut any characters he's planned due to time constraints yet but that if time constraints comes in, he may have to do so. Yet he may not even be referring to cutting character. Take a look at the bolded underline of "to a certain degree". Notice that Sakurai never explicitly said that if time constraints gets in the way, he may have to cut characters, but that he may need to reduce some characters to a certain degree. That to me is not the same as cutting characters, but implies that he may be doing something else entirely to save time should time constraints coming up.

What he could be doing is should time constraints come up, he would modify characters to make them less complicated to deal with because of the 3DS. Like he would split up Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon or separate Zelda and Sheik. These fall more in of reducing some characters to a certain degree than outright cutting characters. Then take a look at this quote:

but we're really working hard in order to include as many characters as possible.

If anything, this contradict the notion that the roster will be of a similar size of that of Brawl. What Sakurai is saying is that he wants to include as many characters as he possibly can that he wants and that includes veterans. He wants to avoid having to cut a lot of characters like he had to in Brawl and is working hard to save characters. This, if anything, indicates that cuts will be as minimal as possible and that cuts will only be done if there is absolutely no other option left.

It also seems as the issue Sakurai is noting with 3DS is less due to the roster size and more due to mechanical issues. Take a look at this quote:

And while the handheld and console versions of the next Super Smash Bros. will feature system-specific stages, the game's moves, characters and items will be "nearly identical".

Now it is true that universal roster is confirmed, but why would Sakurai say that characters would be nearly identical if there is some difference between the roster? What Sakurai could be saying is that the while the characters are the same, there are at least a small difference occurring. So for example, Samus and Zero Suit Samus could end up being split on the 3DS version due to complications yet co-exist together on the Wii-U version. Same character but they may function different between both versions. So for those worried about veterans being compromise, the worry will hopefully only extend to the 3DS version.

Finally, there are some reasons why the roster could be large (relatively speaking). A big reason people are worried about roster size is because the 3DS is not able to handle as much as the Wii-U version, but the concern isn't as big as most people think. The Nintendo 3DS is able to handle up to 8 GB of space in a cart. Let's compare two games for example:

- Super Street Fighter IV had only 2 GB of space and yet retained all thirty-five of it's character. While sacrifices obviously had to be made to fit the game, the fact that all characters can fit in is pretty impressive.
- Tekken 3D: Prime Edition had forty-one characters with 4 GB of space.


Chances are that Super Smash Bros. will have 6 or 8 GB of space in order to fit in as much as possible. Considering that compression will likely be a lot better this time around (whereas compression was horribly done in Brawl) and Sakurai trying to include as many characters as possible, having a relatively large roster size increase like from Smash 64 to Melee and Melee to Brawl is not outside of the realm of possibility. Especially when factoring this into the equation:

"There will be a single player [campaign], but it won't be like the [Subspace Emissary] mode in Brawl," Sakurai explained.

Note that the Subspace Emissary took up most of the time developing the game. Not having a story mode like Subspace Emissary can only mean good things as it would mean more time spent on characters (and especially more things on other parts of the game in general, like online, balancing, stages, new game play mechanics, etc).

Another noteworthy thing is that Namco is capable of balancing large games. Namco has managed to handle a fifty-nine character roster for Tekken Tag Tournament 2 and the game was well received overall. It's only further evidence that with Namco's help, a large roster is certainly not outside of the possibility.

Sakurai has also planned an even larger roster expansion from Melee to Brawl. Back in Brawl, six or seven characters (depending on if the rumor about Plusle & Minun being added is true) were planned to be in the game but were dropped; Mewtwo, Roy, Dr. Mario, Dixie Kong (as Diddy Kong's partner), Toon Zelda/Sheik and maybe Plusle & Minun. Had all of them made the cut, Brawl's roster would have been forty-one/forty-two characters, nineteen/twenty more characters than before. Sakurai realizes that roster expansion is most definitely not everything, but that doesn't mean we won't see a considerable increase with SSB4 as well, especially with Namco helping out.

All of these put together doesn't indicate that similar roster sizes are inevitable and as a matter of fact, point towards a decent increase in the roster size. The concerns in regards to the roster are overblown and are mostly as a result of not putting things together properly.

That's not to say that there will be no cuts as they will probably happen (but for other reasons than time constraints unless the situation gets so dire) or that we will be getting more than sixty-five characters in the game, but when looking at the situation outside a surface point of view, it does show that fifty characters or more is very well within the realm of possibility and that cuts will probably be minimal if they happen. So for those worried about ten veterans getting the axe, don't worry, Sakurai will try to keep as many characters in as possible.

 

[FlareHabanero]

Takamaru's right next to Palutena, yo!

That's a pretty bad idea to pair them together.

 

[Opossum]

It's...okay-ish. The main issue I see is that you're over-representing Pokemon, which should not go beyond the reps of the Mario franchise, and that Roy is back while ignoring a character from Fire Emblem Awakening. In the short 6 or so months it's been out in North America, it's quickly become the most successful game in the franchise (At least in North America), so there's no way that's just going to be overlooked. Also, there's barely any new characters from new series, which is confusing. But hey, you have Ridley and Mewtwo, so I'll give you points for that.

It went beyond Mario's number in Brawl. Six for Pokemon as compared to four for Mario. And does it really matter if the picks themselves warrant inclusion?

As far as Roy is concerned, he is highly demanded for a return, and his Sword of Seals makes for an obvious feature to make him more unique. Fire sword, and all. You don't need a character to represent every new game. Remember Gen III of Pokemon having a character in Brawl? No? But was it still represented? Yep. There are ways to represent things without the need of a character.

 

[BluePikmin11]

Pokemon Trainer is such a cheater for secretly overrepresenting the Pokemon franchise in Smash.

 

[TheCreator]

That still doesn't change the fact that he's never appeared in a Wario title, either WarioWare or Warioland, which means he's not a Wario character in the slightest. He was designed in the MARIO spin-off titles and has never ventured outside of them, meaning that he is indeed a Mario character and probably always will be a Mario character as this character has never shown any signs of having adventures or appearing in any other titles aside from Sports, Parties and Kart Racing. It's like counting Bomberman as a Wario character because they had a crossover game. (Actually, that gives more merit to Bomberman being a Wario character than Waluigi...at least he's been in the same game as Wario that wasn't a spin-off title)

I see. It seems so ****ed up though. Like If only a Wario World U would come out with waluigi playable. Because I see those two like I see Mario and Luigi.

 

[papagenos]

Alright here's my "prepare for the worst" roster, I feel like several peoples realistic rosters are still to hopeful.

Minimum and likely number I can see happening is 43 spots, 9slots on main site per page and 5 slots per page on the mobile site points to 45 slots and sheik and zero-suit samus will take up two of them. This roster is also made believing the rumor about mii / little-mac / and pac-man. Tried not to be bias and simply went by likelihood for each character with very few spots to fill and extremely minimum cuts.

1.Mario
2.Luigi
3.Peach
4.Bowser
5.DK
6.Diddy and Dixie
7.Yoshi
8.Wario
9.Waluigi
10.Link
11.Zelda/Sheik
12.Ganondorf
13.Samus/Zero-suit Samus
14.Pit
15.Palutena
16.R.O.B.
17.Mr. Game and Watch
18.Wii Fit Trainer
19.Kirby
20.Meta-Knight
21.King DeDeDe
22.Olimar
23.Villager
24.Fox
25.Falco
26.Wolf
27.Captain Falcon
28.Pikachu
29.Jigglypuff
30.Pokemon Trainer
31.Mewtwo
32.Marth
33.Ike
34.Chrom
35.Ness
36.Lucas
37.Ice Climbers
38.Little Mac
39.Takamaru
40.Megaman
41.Pac-Man
42.Sonic
43.Snake

(2 spots for Random and Mii; selecting Mii has you select another character for your Mii to play as...picture your Mii's face on the characters body)

44.Mii
45.Random

For a slightly better but still realistic roster I would go by this same system of 43 spots plus Mii/Random spot but make a few more cuts; cut Ike for Chrom, and cut either Wolf or Falco (probably Wolf), and add 1 or 2 more newcomers. Also the possibility of freeing up 1 or 2 spots by dropping Snake or Sonic or both.


Some of the more likely newcomers to fill those last open spots imo are:
Isaac, Mach Rider, Duck Hunt Dog, Dillon, Saki, Shulk

Other newcomers with some issues that make them slightly less likely on a tight roster designed by Sakurai are:
King K. Rool, Ridley, and Krystal

^Other characters I haven't followed so closely might also be part of the likely final few Newcomers group. Also choices I made like Palutena and Waluigi could be out in favor of other likely newcomers instead.

Again, this roster isn't at all what I want it's just being very realistic. It's also important to note that there could be other changes happening here in the roster such as Ganondorf getting an entirely new move-set or Pokemon Trainer using different Pokemon and Diddy/Dixie becoming an Ice Climbers character like Sakurai intended, things like this in Sakurai's mind could count as "New" editions to the roster.

 

[Banjodorf]

Perhaps some sort of special kind of transforming prince, can't quite put my face on it...

Oh! You mean this guy?

I can dig it.

Edit: I quoted myself. I feel stupid.

Edit 2: Electric Boogaloo: Fixed it.

 

[Hotfeet444]

It went beyond Mario's number in Brawl. Six for Pokemon as compared to four for Mario. And does it really matter if the picks themselves warrant inclusion?

As far as Roy is concerned, he is highly demanded for a return, and his Sword of Seals makes for an obvious feature to make him more unique. Fire sword, and all. You don't need a character to represent every new game. Remember Gen III of Pokemon having a character in Brawl? No? But was it still represented? Yep. There are ways to represent things without the need of a character.

The main reason I saw 3rd Gen being left out of representation in Brawl was mainly because none of the really popular 3rd Gen pokemon were formidable fighters that would've been anything new in Smash Bros. There was the rumor of Plusle and Minun, but that just sounds like Pichu cross-bred with the Ice Climbers, it didn't fit. But now, we have pokemon like Zoroark and Genesect for 5th Gen and Mewtwo for the new Gen.

Also, I still count the Pokemon Trainer as one character, especially considering that even though it's three in one, the three characters work off of each other to create one balanced fighter. Also, while I have no problem with Roy getting in the game, I'm just saying that Awakening was a huge success, and there's no way they're just going to overlook the game, especially since we already know there's a stage from said game in the handheld version.

Alright here's my "prepare for the worst" roster, I feel like several peoples realistic rosters are still to hopeful.

Minimum and likely number I can see happening is 43 spots, 9slots on main site per page and 5 slots per page on the mobile site points to 45 slots and sheik and zero-suit samus will take up two of them. This roster is also made believing the rumor about mii / little-mac / and pac-man. Tried not to be bias and simply went by likelihood for each character with very few spots to fill and extremely minimum cuts.

1.Mario
2.Luigi
3.Peach
4.Bowser
5.DK
6.Diddy and Dixie
7.Yoshi
8.Wario
9.Waluigi
10.Link
11.Zelda/Sheik
12.Ganondorf
13.Samus/Zero-suit Samus
14.Pit
15.Palutena
16.R.O.B.
17.Mr. Game and Watch
18.Wii Fit Trainer
19.Kirby
20.Meta-Knight
21.King DeDeDe
22.Olimar
23.Villager
24.Fox
25.Falco
26.Wolf
27.Captain Falcon
28.Pikachu
29.Jigglypuff
30.Pokemon Trainer
31.Mewtwo
32.Marth
33.Ike
34.Chrom
35.Ness
36.Lucas
37.Ice Climbers
38.Little Mac
39.Takamaru
40.Megaman
41.Pac-Man
42.Sonic
43.Snake

(2 spots for Random and Mii; selecting Mii has you select another character for your Mii to play as...picture your Mii's face on the characters body)

44.Mii
45.Random

Hmmmmmm...it's...pretty good. The only thing that really irks me about this roster is that Kid Icarus gets a new representative when Metroid doesn't, which seems a little insulting since Metroid is a much bigger franchise.

Also, if anyone wants to use the new pictures of the characters for Smash 4 in your roster...

I designed my own set.

 

[Banjodorf]

Hmmmmmm...it's...pretty good. The only thing that really irks me about this roster is that Kid Icarus gets a new representative when Metroid doesn't, which seems a little insulting since Metroid is a much bigger franchise.

I think we're likely to get both. It really depends on how workable Ridley turned out to be for Sakurai's new, bigger team I imagine. I really think there's nothing in Palutena's way, unlike Ridley technically, which explains the addition of a KI character instead of a Metroid character.

It is a bit insulting, regadless though, when you think about it. Although I could say the same thing about Donkey Kong, which is an even bigger franchise than Metroid and has only acquired one extra rep so far.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekken_3D:_Prime_Edition
Well according to here, the 3ds version of tekken 3d had a roster for up to 41.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Street_Fighter_IV:_3D_Edition
While SSF4 had 35 characters total in the 3DS version.
It's got me a little worried that SSB3DS won't be able to handle many more characters with more than 40.

The thing about those rosters is they only use approximately 25% of the actual space on a 3DS cart. SSF4 uses 2gb, while Tekken used 3gb. Nevermind the more intensive backgrounds and things that go into those games.

However, Sakurai knows to push these things to the limit, as he did with Brawl (The Wii had a 2GB limit on the disks iirc) The Wii U has a...what, 25gb limit, and the 3DS disks actually have an 8GB limit. So I wouldn't worry about that...

 

[papagenos]

Hmmmmmm...it's...pretty good. The only thing that really irks me about this roster is that Kid Icarus gets a new representative when Metroid doesn't, which seems a little insulting since Metroid is a much bigger franchise.

Yeah I'll defend any of my choices on that roster with the logic I used to come to those conclusions (personally I would pick ridley over palutena as well) but Sakurai seems very steady in his "ridley is too big" thinking. ridley will probably return as a one player mode boss again, I think megamans video teased bosses are back. There are other possible metroid reps but I don't think any of them are deserving enough and in Sakurai's mind Metroid has 2 reps Samus and Zero-Suit Samus. Also Sakurai just made the new Kid Icarus and no matter what he says he IS biased and that's why we get the rosters we get and not the rosters that distribute representation in a way most would agree on, so Palutena is likely.