Rosters if SSB Began Today

[Pupp135]

Have you wondered what SSB started today instead if 21 years ago (24 now)? If you have, you can post your rosters for this situation.
If you want a challenge, make rosters sizes for 12, 20, 26 (both with and w/o 6 echoes), 30, 35, 39, 45, and 50 characters.
If you want, you can explain why you added the characters you chose.
Additional challenge, this is the number of secret characters you must have in each roster:
4 in the 12 character roster
7 in the 20 character roster
11 in the 26 character roster
12 in the 30 character roster (anything after this is probably unrealistic)
14 in the 35 character roster
16 in the 39 character roster
18 in the 45 character roster
20 in the 50 character roster
Here are mine
I decided to only go up to 40 as anything after 30 seems unrealistic, and I’d assume 26 is most likely:

Spoiler: 12

*
Promotional Pokemon*
Luigi and Peach: Luigi and Peach feel more relevant than Donkey Kong at the moment.
Samus: She was Nintendo’s/gaming’s first mainstream female protagonist
Byleth: Three Houses is the most popular game in Fire Emblem, but (s)he’d probably be closer to Robin in terms of moveset where (s)he uses swords and faith for attacks.
Cinderace/New Gen starter: A promotional pokemon feels like something that the Pokemon Company would want.
Shulk: Xenoblade is a growing series, and he’s the most established character at this time.
Honorable Mentions:
Donkey Kong: The arcade game and DKC are important historically, but it is less relevant compared the other series today.
Yoshi: Another major Mario character, but the Yoshi franchise feels less relevant today, and I’d probably add Peach or Bowser before Yoshi for a third Mario character.
Charizard, Mewtwo, Lucario, and Greninja: Very popular Pokemon that were left out, so I can add the promotional one.

Spoiler: 20

*
Promotional Pokemon**

Fox: His series isn’t relevant, but it is probably the most remembered of the dormant franchises.
Charizard: I feel like this would be another pokemon that the Pokemon Company wants added.
Isabelle: Animal Crossing is a major franchise, and both she and Villager are in Mario Kart, so leaving one of them out might be odd.
Sonic: I like the idea of third parties, and he is more or less Mario’s friendly rival.
Honorable Mentions:
Zelda/Ganon(dorf): LoZ is a major franchise, but there many Mario related characters missing from my 12 character roster, and I feel like Isabelle would need to be added.
Clones:
If I added clones, I’d choose Metal Mario, Daisy, a Child Link, Pichu, Falco, and Octoling as my clones. In this case, the first three unlockable characters become starters.

Spoiler: 26 Unique

Ganon
Promotional Pokemon**
*
Wario: Rounds out the original Mario Party cast, and Wario Ware is still relevant.
King Dedede: for the second Kirby character, he feels like the most popular one.
Olimar: Pikmin is still relevant today
Pit: He’d be our second retro.
Honorable Mention
Ganondorf: Ganon is more recurring.

Spoiler: 30

Ganon*
Promotional Pokemon*DJ Octavio

Lucina: Probably the most controversial one, but Marth/Ike don’t have Melee/Brawl anymore to back them up anymore, and she’s more popular than Chrom and Robin.
Mewtwo: I’d prefer Pokemon Trainer, but I wouldn’t think that her/his gimmick would be feasible, and can’t think of a way to make her/him work without using pokemon in her/his place.
Octoling: Splatoon is a major franchise, so I could see Nintendo wanting a second fighter for the series.
Pac-Man: I feel like Miyamoto would want this one.
At this point, I think the roster is pretty complete.

Spoiler: 40

Ganon* DJ Octavio
Promotional Pokemon()*
Isaac, Barista Dog(/Tidus)
Rosalina: Another Mario character feels justified, and she seems more intesting choice compared to Toad, Bowser Jr., Daisy, or Waluigi.
Meta Knight: Am anti-hero of Kirby more or less
Mewtwo: I like the idea of a playable legendary pokemon.
Tom Nook: Animal Crossing is huge, and he’s one of the main characters.
Mythra/Pyra: I added them for the same reasons that they’re in Ultimate.
Ness, Isaac, and Barista Dog: They seem like a cool retro choices.
Ryu: Street Fighter is a prominent franchise, and I feel like I might overlook Mega Man without looking at fan requests.
Cloud/Tidus, I like FF, and I prefer X over VII, so if I can get Tidus, I’d choose him.

Spoiler: Extra Clones if Possible

Metal Mario (Mario)
Daisy (Peach)
Toon Link (Link)
Dark Samus (Samus)
Pichu (Pikachu)
Chrom (Lucina)
Aplh (Olimar)
Octoling in smaller rosters (Inkling)
Ken (Ryu)
Mrs. Pac-Man (Pac-Man)

Spoiler: Noatable Exclusions/Honorable Mention

Toad/Bowser Jr./Waluigi: I find Rosalina more interesting for a fighting game
King K. Rool: He hasn’t been relevant for awhile.
Ridley: While he’s a major character from Metroid, the series is less relevant compared to others today.
Pokemon Trainer: The gimmick would be too complex for me, and I don’t know how to make a standalone trainer work.
Lucario, Greninja, and Jigglypuff: I just prioritized other Pokemon
Captain Falcon: A character I would not imagine adding
Marth: Most of his prominence comes from Melee than anything else
The retro fighters barring Pit: I wouldn’t imagine them
Mega Man: I had other priorities in terms of third parties

 

[Guynamednelson]

Would the grass starter meme even exist if there was no Smash let alone one with fire and water starters playable?

 

[Pupp135]

That’s a great point. Maybe Cinderance would be the better pick.

 

[BowserKing]

I'll start with the 12 group



Now for 20

Newcomers: and Issac

Now for 26

Newcomers:
26 with Echoes: Dark Bowser,

Now for 30 (unfortunately ignoring echoes): and Fawful

35:

39: (all promoted from echoes to semi echoes) and Midna

45: Adeleine and Spring-Man

50: Steve and Shantae

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

I'll forget about third parties for this

12:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Ganon 7. 8. 9. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

20:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Ganon 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

(I forgot about 26. Oops)

30:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Toad 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Ganon 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Corviknight 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. Rex

35:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Toad 7. 8. 9. Waluigi 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Ganon 15. 14. 15. 16. 16. 17. 18. 19. Corviknight 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. Rex 32. Balloon Fighter 33. 34. Mike Jones 35. Isaac

I also forgot about 39

45:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Toad 7. 8. Paper Mario 9. 10. Waluigi 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Ganon 16. 17. 18. Tingle 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. Corviknight 25. 26. Sableye 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. Rex 39. Balloon Fighter 40. 41. Mike Jones 42. Isaac 43. 44. Chibi-Robo 45. Mach Rider

50:

I'm just saying who I'm adding this time:
1. Spring Man 2. King Hippo 3. Goomba 4. Bandana Dee 5. Urban Champion

 

[Pokelego999]

I'll deal with mine a little later. I needa sort out who I'd like most.

 

[Pupp135]

this is just a bump, but I think I’ll change this into something else like game modes or stages.

 

[BowserKing]

Updating the roaster to 60 fighters

Newcomers: Dixie Kong, Skull Kid, Shadow, and Muddy Mole

 

[Pupp135]

I’ll bump this thread right now.

 

[Otoad64]

not doing all of them right now but here is 12,20,26,30 and 35
red = unlockable

 

[Pupp135]

I want to bump this topic since I’m curious on other’s choices.

 

[AlRex]

Most starting rosters still average around 20 - 25, with more being added later. BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle starts out with about 40, but mostly through reuse of assets. I'll be generous, though, and allow for 28 characters.

THE ROSTER
-Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser
-Donkey Kong, Diddy & Dixie, Yoshi, Wario
-Link, Zelda, Impa, Ganondorf
-Samus Aran, Pit, Ayumi Tachibana, Little Mac
-Kirby, King Dedede, Marth, Byleth
-Pikachu, Eevee, Charizard, Alcremie [I dunno]
-Isabelle, Shulk, Inkling, Miis

THE EXPLANATIONS

Spoiler: Here they are

-Mario characters are obvious
-Donkey Kong is still a huge name
-Diddy & Dixie was most likely the original plan, and represents the duo gameplay of Donkey Kong Country games
-Yoshi and Wario are separate enough from Mario, yet still connected enough that we get more recognizable Mario characters.
-The Zelda series has the standard Triforce trio, along with Impa, who is more and more prominent in recent Zelda titles.
-Metroid was on a downturn, but was also that way during SSB64, and is still a historically important series for Nintendo. Plus new titles are coming for it.
-On that same token, Kid Icarus, while not heavily recurring, is prominent among their NES titles, which are a big part of Nintendo's legacy.
-Ayumi Tachibana is an intentionally weird NES pick, but is one that people would know now, due to the Famicom Detective Club re-release.
-Conversely, we'll also have an NES pick that has been known in the West for longer, Little Mac. Punch-Out still gets frequently added to NES re-releases of any kind, and fits well for a fighting character.
-Kirby is mega-popular, but I was unsure of which of the main secondary characters to add at first. I added King Dedede because he feels more like a primary antagonist, and is more different from Kirby in stature than Meta Knight. The hammer also felt more unique than the sword.
-Marth and Byleth represent both the beginning and the current big success of Fire Emblem. While I don't like that both have blue hair and a somewhat similar look because of that, Byleth at least uses multiple weapons, so that aspect of FE is still referenced, at least.
-Pokemon was difficult, and I apologize for the abundance of Gen. 1 representation, but Pikachu and Charizard are still massively popular and heavily used in promotions, Eevee has also gained more and more prominence, and can reference its multiple evolutions through varied elemental attacks. Alcremie was me wanting to pick a unique type, as well as one from the most recent generation of Pokemon. Alternatively, you could swap out Charizard and Alcremie for Greninja and Cinderace, but Charizard is too popular for its own good.
-Isabelle seems more popular than the Villagers themselves for Animal Crossing, and has a more unique design. Good for her, I suppose.
-Shulk is the first big Xenoblade character, and has carried across multiple generations through a re-release/update of his game.
-Inkling represents one of Nintendo's biggest new successes in a while, has a unique playstyle, distinct, varied designs, and a still thriving fanbase.
-Miis are representative of Nintendo's largest mainstream success since perhaps Pokemon, even more so than Splatoon. Here, they might work differently, as more of a "Create-A-Fighter" in a wrestling, mixing and matching from various Mii archetypes like Brawler, Swordfighter, Gunner, Mage, Athlete, rather than sticking to just one.

 

[Champion of Hyrule]

I made a roster idea of my own