Sakurai: "...So I'm kind of hoping you aren't expecting too many new challengers"

[staindgrey]

In my mind, the reason they gave clones a new fancy name ("echo characters") was to put a spin on the idea of cloning to expand the roster and save development time.

I'd imagine we'll get no more than four total brand new characters at launch, including Inklings and Ridley. But I also suspect we'll be hearing about more echo characters, since giving them their own label and only announcing Daisy would be an odd choice. Remember that, counting Mii character separately, Smash 4 got 15 newcomers in the base game. But that's without the development time necessary to recreate all of the veterans that they chose to leave out.

If I were to make a prediction, I'd say four new characters base game, probably 2-4 new echo characters base game, then 4-6 DLC characters that will be entirely new over the course of the next year, bringing the total count to about 68-70 unique characters and 5-7 echo characters, which is a HUGE game. Nintendo's proven that their post-release strategy is profitable with Mario Golf, Splatoon 1/2, ARMS and Smash 4, and I see no reason for them to reverse course on that now that the Switch gives them way more potential customers than the Wii U did.

 

[Runic_SSB]

Just a reminder that he said something in the same vain during Smash 4's development, and people severely overreacted. We're probably gonna get a good amount of newcomers, just not as much as Smash 4.

 

[EricTheGamerman]

I wanted one ultimate version of Smash before we started talking cuts to the franchise, and that is exactly what we're getting with this game. I doubt we'll see the franchise retain the roster short of a miracle in future iterations, so I'm more than satisfied to see everyone returning. Squirtle, Ivysaur, Ice Climbers, Snake, and Wolf can be treated in a sense like newcomers just because they're adding more unique elements to the game. And then we have the bombshells of Inkling and Ridley, two of my most desired newcomers to the series, so I must say I'm ecstatic about the roster already.

Sakurai's words were "So I'm kind of hoping that you don't expect TOO many newcomers" indicating we'll see less than previous iterations, so I'd say half of Smash's newcomers which was 14 not counting the clones and the Mii character separately since they basically were each unique. If we go by that as seven new characters to get us to 70, that would leave us with 5. So I think we'll see a couple more big reveals through the year, and if Sakurai is going full fan service a couple of highly requested individuals might be back.

I know people say this every Smash, but given Ridley got in, I'd almost bet money that King K. Rool is a shoe-in because of his popularity with the community and in polls. As for who else I'd like to see, I think Geno might just have a chance as well and an ARMS character with perhaps an Echo fighter variant also makes sense. That really would just leave a couple spots, and in my world of dreams those go to Isaac and Chibi-Robo. If that ended up being the case this would truly be MY ultimate version of Smash and I'd be overjoyed that I have one full Smash game regardless of where we go in the future.

But yeah, I think we'll see around 5 more newcomers revealed not counting any potential Echo fighters that Sakurai may implement as well.

 

[Thermithral]

Ill be honest, with the amount of characters and stages we know for a fact are in the base game as is, I am completely content if this is all the roster has in the base game, and I would not even be upset if they decided not to add more DLC. 66 characters is already insane, and I can play with any and all of them, on the go.

Anything else I see up until December is just more icing on an already well decorated cake.

 

[leprechaunlink727]

Ill be honest, with the amount of characters and stages we know for a fact are in the base game as is, I am completely content if this is all the roster has in the base game, and I would not even be upset if they decided not to add more DLC. 66 characters is already insane, and I can play with any and all of them, on the go.

Anything else I see up until December is just more icing on an already well decorated cake.

Yeah I mean, it's hard to be upset when every character and possibly every stage is back, plus Ridley and Inklings, in glorious portable HD.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

Well melee had 14 newcomers so less than that so 5-7 non echo newcomers (this includes inklings and Ridley) sounds about right and probably 2-5 more echo fighters sounds right

So for non echo

Simon Belmont - this is the last character on vergeben leak not shown yet he's 4/5 for smash bros leak being correct the only way this can go wrong is the gemusatu scenario which is he got everybody correct but a few were cut without realizing it.

King k rool - it's looking really promising they are focusing on the fans in this one
1 - the no cuts thing
2 - they brought back all the melee stuff (except wavedash they added immense delay on characters when you try it)
3 - a lot of the stages coming back are popular ones (good chance they did the same thing with stages as they did with characters)
4 - snake was a highly requested return
5 - Ridley as a playable

But Ridley is the biggest evidence by far he was westerns most wanted newcomer bayonetta was the middle (Europe) most want and as for the eastern king k rool is the most wanted I think king k rool is gosh darn close to winning this and ofcoarse let's not forget the mii costume which shows sakurai is aware of king k rool

Ashley - I think I see it now the new warioware game was in 2015 one year before the roster was finalized there's no assist trophy spotted so far very popular in Japan and moveset potential is good

Retro/WTF rep - there's no way to figure this one out because this always happens in smash and these always end up as fun reps

Pokémon rep - not as likely due to Pokémon trainer and pichu and decidueye chances are done due to ivysaur coming back
I think lycanroc or mimikyu is the most likely of the bunch heck maybe gengar since its fan focused smash and they want a ghost Pokémon playable

As for echo
Dark Samus - the alt is gone and no assist trophy
Funky - being populist recently
Shadow - this could be the first one of multi characters from a 3rd party series


Best I can think of for now will update later with more

The fact is this would happen eventually sakurai finally cracking it of no cuts and accepting the fact of adding less newcomers per game

 

[Sage of Ice]

Just a reminder that he said something in the same vain during Smash 4's development, and people severely overreacted. We're probably gonna get a good amount of newcomers, just not as much as Smash 4.

i was thinking this too. with all the effort of bringing back everyone i wouldn't be surprised if we got fewer brand-new fighters than usual, but that doesn't necessarily mean only one or two more after ridley and the squid kid.

that said, i'm not too terribly hung up on who else in particular we get. i've wanted the same two characters for the last ten years, and one made it while the other got the AT consolation prize. there's other stuff i want but at this point it'd be icing on a cake i'm already satisfied with.

 

[Pacack]

Just a reminder that he said something in the same vain during Smash 4's development, and people severely overreacted. We're probably gonna get a good amount of newcomers, just not as much as Smash 4.

i was thinking this too. with all the effort of bringing back everyone i wouldn't be surprised if we got fewer brand-new fighters than usual, but that doesn't necessarily mean only one or two more after ridley and the squid kid.

Thank you. I think people are taking Sakurai's comment to the extreme. He means it, but I don't think he means "lol, only three unique newcomer."

 

[Deleted member]

It's a PR statement that says "don't expect a bazillion newcomers" which any sane person would know to do.

Don't forget that we got seventeen newcomers in the base game last time and he also cautioned us to temper our expectations. I guaranteed that we are getting at least twelve additions; we've already got seven veterans and three newcomers so two more is not unreasonable.

 

[perfectchaos83]

I'm going with what the previous people said. He's made a similar statement for Smash 4 and we got 17 in the base game outside DLC. Now, I'm not saying expect that many, but I think 10-12 outside Inkling and Ridley is perfectly acceptable reasoning.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

My best guess is that the base roster won't go any higher than 75 fighters.

Have to agree. But, let's be real here - 75 fighters is freaking massive for a fighting game.

I feel like Sakurai is lying.

Again. Didn't he say the same thing with Brawl and 4?

Not lying; the smallest amount of newcomers we've had to date is 14; so I think anywhere between 8-13 is likely. Granted, this could just be PR talk. With six months left in development (more like five and a half so they can make copies to hit retail) I highly doubt they'll be adding any non-echo fighters now, so they've put all their newcomer eggs in already; the basket is getting pretty full and an 80+ roster is just insanity. I'm sure we'll get a few picks for DLC, but no more than five total. This is likely his last Smash, so he wants to make sure he goes out with a bang - and Nintendo wants to make sure he doesn't overwork himself again to do that.

 

[StormC]

If we were a year out from the game I'd agree to expect around 10, but with only six months to go I just don't see how they reveal them all in time. I'm sure we'll get a Smash Direct down the road but even so that's a lot of ground to cover.

I don't think any unlockables will be kept hidden until post-release (or a leak). I bet they're going to reveal them all before the game is out.

 

[Organization XIII]

Have to agree. But, let's be real here - 75 fighters is freaking massive for a fighting game.



Not lying; the smallest amount of newcomers we've had to date is 14; so I think anywhere between 8-13 is likely. Granted, this could just be PR talk. With six months left in development (more like five and a half so they can make copies to hit retail) I highly doubt they'll be adding any non-echo fighters now, so they've put all their newcomer eggs in already; the basket is getting pretty full and an 80+ roster is just insanity. I'm sure we'll get a few picks for DLC, but no more than five total. This is likely his last Smash, so he wants to make sure he goes out with a bang - and Nintendo wants to make sure he doesn't overwork himself again to do that.

Wow if we only got echoes and barely any DLC this wouldn't even be worth buying to me. That really sounds worst case scenario.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

Wow if we only got echoes and barely any DLC this wouldn't even be worth buying to me. That really sounds worst case scenario.

Note how I mention that all he'd be adding this late in development is echos. All of the unique newcomers would have been added over the last two(?) years of development.

 

[Organization XIII]

Note how I mention that all he'd be adding this late in development is echos. All of the unique newcomers would have been added over the last two(?) years of development.

Oh misunderstood your statement mate. My bad still what I thought you meant is down right sad and hopefully won't happen. As for what did say yeah anyone added in now will be Echoes though it's more likely there won't be any added and it'll just be polishing the game.

 

[StormC]

I wonder if there will be a "free" DLC character like Mewtwo last year. Maybe if you buy the game before 2019 and you register it you get a free download code for K. Rool or Sora or whatever.

 

[PSIGuy]

Maybe we should be comparing Smash 5 to Smash 4. Old characters take effort to bring back after all.
7 returns: Young Link, Pichu, Ice Climbers, Wolf, Snake, Squirtle, Ivysaur
3 newcomers: Daisy, Ridley, Inkling
That's a total of 10 characters already. I don't think they all took equal effort (although some like Snake or Squirtle might've been equivalent to a newcomer's level of work). All the 'newcomers' are likely done and being polished, so it's down to how many Echoes they can fit in. Echoes are likely last minute and the lowest priority, but since they're clearly pushing the 'bonus content' angle of them too.

 

[Sage of Ice]

If we were a year out from the game I'd agree to expect around 10, but with only six months to go I just don't see how they reveal them all in time. I'm sure we'll get a Smash Direct down the road but even so that's a lot of ground to cover.

I don't think any unlockables will be kept hidden until post-release (or a leak). I bet they're going to reveal them all before the game is out.

assuming ten characters, that's two every month between now and release. seems doable to me.

also where'd you get that super clean icon? are all of the palettes available somewhere like that?

 

[StormC]

assuming ten characters, that's two every month between now and release. seems doable to me.

also where'd you get that super clean icon? are all of the palettes available somewhere like that?

I don't expect two a month since we only got one for E3 - and I mean full fledged newcomers, not counting echo fighters.

And it's from the Smash wiki.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Maybe we should be comparing Smash 5 to Smash 4. Old characters take effort to bring back after all.
7 returns: Young Link, Pichu, Ice Climbers, Wolf, Snake, Squirtle, Ivysaur
3 newcomers: Daisy, Ridley, Inkling
That's a total of 10 characters already. I don't think they all took equal effort (although some like Snake or Squirtle might've been equivalent to a newcomer's level of work). All the 'newcomers' are likely done and being polished, so it's down to how many Echoes they can fit in. Echoes are likely last minute and the lowest priority, but since they're clearly pushing the 'bonus content' angle of them too.

This.

The Sm4sh characters are probably ported at a minimal creation time. Then again, Link's got more than a few changes, along with all of his animations flipped.
Brawl vets need substantial rebuilds since the game is 10(!) years old, and I don't know how easily those skeletons and animations transfer.
Melee vets pretty much need a ground-up rebuild. Fortunately, Pichu probably still uses a lot from Pika, and YL is getting a lot of Link's SSB4 stuff

Also - don't forget that loads of characters now have new Final Smashes. And ALL OF THOSE STAGES!

I'd wager we still have some surprises waiting, but we won't be getting newcomers flowing out like water. I don't even know how many echoes we'll get, since they are in essence clones, and people don't really like them - I wouldn't expect more than 2-3 more. As for full newcomers, 5 seems pushing it.

 

[Z1GMA]

I got Ridley, so I'm totally satisfied.
Would be happy to see:
K.Rool
Waluigi (rip)
Sami
Endou Mamoru

 

[**Gilgamesh**]

Well Mr. S never said anything about us not getting anymore newcomers after Ridley or the E3 annoucement (Some newcomers still could be unlock-able on disk content)!

And keep this in mind! You almost can never trust anything Sakurai says (He said Ridley was too huge to be put in Smash, but Ridley ultimately got in Smash 5, during the development of Smash 4, he said DLC was done with after Mewtwo was completed, but more DLC came after Mewtwo's release)!

He still believes Ridley is too big lol. He clearly stated in the tree house that Ridley took an extreme amount of effort and TIME to actually make which leads me to believe that Ridley alone probably shaved off 2-3 newcomers due to Americans vocal minority about wanting him in.

 

[ottobot]

Ok i wanted to base this on actual data a little, because a lot of ppl are throwing out numbers without really explaining why they picked them. Now, all we really have to look at are the historical numbers for newcomers, which while useful arent a surefire thing. keep in mind, this game seems to have been built on smash 4's basis which could mean that adding new characters would take less dev time (though i doubt that, especially given how much theyve been spending on updating veterans).

Anyways, disclaimers aside, Sakurai said that the reason there would be fewer newcomers is that bringing everyone back takes up dev time. So, for the purposes of this, im going to count bringing back veterans who missed the previous game as if they were newcomers. also, because we're interested in the pre-dlc roster, im ignoring smash 4 dlc for this. finally, i feel that smash 64, having been built entirely from the ground up and being entirely "newcomers" is different enough that it feels safer to leave it out of this. So, we're just looking at melee, brawl, and pre DLC 4. im also seperating clones/semiclones from fully original characters as they likely take different amounts of dev time. (though i don't think this distinction will end up particularily useful for reasons we will see).

by my count, melee had 8 newcomers and 6 new clones, for a total of 14 new characters. (treating zelda and sheik as seperate characters)
brawl had 15 newcomers and 3 new clones, for a total of 18 new characters. (treating zero suit samus and the 3 trainer pokemon as seperate characters)
smash 4 had 15 newcomers and 3 new clones, for a total of 18 new characters. (treating mii fighters as seperate characters and doctor mario's return as a new character).

this averages to 12.667 newcomers 4 new clones, for an average of 16.667 new characters. however, as smash 4 and brawl have the exact same number of new clones and newcomers between them, it seems like you could maybe treat melee, the oldest game here, as an outlier. in that case, ultimate would have 3 new clones and 14 true newcomers, to a total of 18 new characters. lets call this the high estimate. So, after the confirmed characters, where does this leave us?

well, we already know of 2 newcomers, 1 new clone, 4 veterans that skipped a game, and 3 clone veterans who skipped a game. This totals to 6 full characters and 4 clones. plugging this into our numbers we get: *drumroll* 6.667 to 8 more new characters, and... 0 to -1 more new clones? ugh, you see why i said that seperating clones and veterans for this seems like a bad idea. This is especially true what with the new echo fighter concept that seems to be an attempt to rebrand clones (in possible perperation for more of them).

so, lets just look at total rosters. there are already 10 "new" characters in the game, so that leaves: 6.667-8 total new characters (lets round that to 7-8, for simplicity). if you wanted to get a really low estimate, you could average in smash 64 as well for an average of 14.5 new characters per game, meaning 4.5 more new characters to be announced. so... 4-8 more newcomers, clones included? again, i dont think that 64 low estimate is the best, so Im gonna put down a final guess of 7±1 more newcomers, at least 1 more of which will be an echo fighter.

Edit: one additional thought now that its the morning and i have a fresh mind. Even if we judge purely by melee's numbers, by far the most conservative estimate, we still have 4 more characters to go, (though, according to melee ratios, 2 of those would be clones/echos). thats obviously small, and if it were true it would be a bit disappointing, but i also struggle to find even 4 nintendo characters still left out who are as important to include as inkling and ridley.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Have to agree. But, let's be real here - 75 fighters is freaking massive for a fighting game.

It has happened though, since I do remember that the Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi series had a large amount of playable characters for its third installment. Of course, they were all characters who originated from the Dragon Ball franchise.

Another reason why I thought 75 involves All-Star mode. Excluding the Mii Fighters, you'd have to face up to 72 fighters total, and if you want a small number of stages to be played, 12 opponents per stage would be the best bet; Pokemon Trainer would count as 3 opponents.

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

Just a reminder that he said something in the same vain during Smash 4's development, and people severely overreacted. We're probably gonna get a good amount of newcomers, just not as much as Smash 4.

Yep that's why I think 72-75 is a safer bet than people think

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Another reason why I thought 75 involves All-Star mode. Excluding the Mii Fighters, you'd have to face up to 72 fighters total, and if you want a small number of stages to be played, 12 opponents per stage would be the best bet; Pokemon Trainer would count as 3 opponents.

I can't WAIT to play this All-Star mode. I love having every Smasher ever return, and this time the All-Star mode will really feel like a true victory. Before, I'd even wanted the return of Melee's randomized version, but since everyone got their own number based on when they were first announced in Smash...I would be really happy for All-Star to go in reverse order of their numbers.

 

[SvartWolf]

I think i will keep with 6 newcomers including Ridley and inklings, and a couple of echo fighters. seems like a safe bet, and i honestly prefer if teh development time goes into stuff like extra modes and pasable singleplayer content. There is always DLC for more characters.

That being said, my predictions:
-Inklings
-Ridley
-Simon Belmont
-Ashley
-Either full character Dixie Kong, or King k rool with dixie as an Echo, or if we are lucky, semiclone.
-Either one Square Enix character (dragon quest, etc), Monster Hunter, or One western third party (Crash, Rayman, Steve, Shovel Knight)

if 8 newcomers:
+Captain Toad
+7th gen pokemon (Lycanrock, Mimikyu, Rowlett or Decidueye)

if 10 newcomers:
*Titular retro WTF Hardware character bonanza
*Elma

i can totally see Ashley pulling a japanese ridley. get the feeling that people are sleeping on her.

and my want list:
-Simon Belmont
-Ridley (yaaay)
-Lycanrock or Mimikyu
-Solaire of Astoria (or dark souls rep)
-Urbosa (or any BOTW champion really)
-Shovel Knight

(honorable mentions)
+Ashely
+Dixie Kong
+Terra brandford, or Black mage?
.... Lyn? ()

I do hope they do DLC for this game too, the options they have for DLC fighters are very exciting.

 

[GalacticPetey]

It has happened though, since I do remember that the Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi series had a large amount of playable characters for its third installment. Of course, they were all characters who originated from the Dragon Ball franchise.

Another reason why I thought 75 involves All-Star mode. Excluding the Mii Fighters, you'd have to face up to 72 fighters total, and if you want a small number of stages to be played, 12 opponents per stage would be the best bet; Pokemon Trainer would count as 3 opponents.

The Dragon Ball games are a bad example because a bunch of those slots are transformations. All the Super Saiyan forms for all the characters with them is already a bloated number. And even the different characters that are in, all of them play the same. Tenkaichi 3 may have 161 characters, but it's more like five characters with a bunch of different skins.

I think the largest roster for a proper fighting game is about 66 in one of the King of Fighters games.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

I can't WAIT to play this All-Star mode. I love having every Smasher ever return, and this time the All-Star mode will really feel like a true victory. Before, I'd even wanted the return of Melee's randomized version, but since everyone got their own number based on when they were first announced in Smash...I would be really happy for All-Star to go in reverse order of their numbers.

Personally, I'd prefer it if All-Star mode was completely random for each playthrough. Fighting opponents in a set order just gets too repetitive and boring after a while.

 

[Ura]

I'm actually hoping All-Star mode gets omitted for a new mode. One that's more intuitive then just fighting 70+ characters in one run.

Maybe like a Survival mode where you continuously fight characters by varying orders (1's, 2's, or 3's) until you lose.

EDIT: Oh yeah and my predictions for this Smash after hearing the DasVergeben rumor of their being at least 6 newcomers...

1) K. Rool
2) Ashley
3) Simon Belmont
4) Elma
5) Bandana Dee
6) Andy (more like a hopeful prediction than anything else)

 

[Miifighters4Smash5]

When it comes to newcomers, I would like to see another villain or two added in to the roster. We got Ridley which is absolutely amazing, but I would also like to see either Hades, Medusa, or K. Rool.
Of course, with how Legend of Zelda is being handled this time around, I think one more character would be great. One to represent Skyward Sword. With Ghirahim confirmed as Assist Trophy, the honor should go to Impa, as she's the most recurring Zelda character not in Smash. I wouldn't even care if she's an Echo Fighter of Sheik.

Spoiler: Spoiler Alert

How about Malos; as a Villainous Echo Fighter for Shulk;

Don't ask me why; that's a Spoiler!!

Plus I'd love to see Adventure Mode; AKA Like what was in Melee; Since There's NO Way in HFIL That the Mashed Potato Samurai(Masahiro Sakurai) will make another Subspace Emissary OR Story mode ; Especially since People uploaded the Spoilery Story cutscenes on Youtube, A Lot of hard work, ruined by the fans who want to see the cutscenes but didn't want to play or Buy the game; That's why He didn't bring it for SSB4; And Why Another Ambitious Story Mode won't be in SSBU; Because the Fans cannot have nice things, since they'll either take advantage of or Exploit it, OR Complain about it just the same!!

 

[jamesster445]

Spoiler: Spoiler Alert

How about Malos; as a Villainous Echo Fighter for Shulk;

Don't ask me why; that's a Spoiler!!

Plus I'd love to see Adventure Mode; AKA Like what was in Melee; Since There's NO Way in HFIL That the Mashed Potato Samurai(Masahiro Sakurai) will make another Subspace Emissary OR Story mode ; Especially since People uploaded the Spoilery Story cutscenes on Youtube, A Lot of hard work, ruined by the fans who want to see the cutscenes but didn't want to play or Buy the game; That's why He didn't bring it for SSB4; And Why Another Ambitious Story Mode won't be in SSBU; Because the Fans cannot have nice things, since they'll either take advantage of or Exploit it, OR Complain about it just the same!!

Yes because story based games like Uncharted or The Last of Us or any RPG ever have never had their entire story and cutscenes leaked but still managed to sell incredibly well.

 

[Untouch]

Sakurai feels like the kind of person who doesn't like to admit something is too much work, but SSE absolutely was too much work. He just doesn't want to admit it.

 

[Arcadenblog]

I'm thinking to when Melee was in development. You see, if Sakurai and the gang never added clones, we would've only had 7 8 new characters.
()

So I wonder if the development team will try once again to use clones/echos to pad out the roster. I'm thinking we'll get a total of 7-9 "built from the ground up" characters (Inkling, Ridley, King K. Rool, Waddle Dee, Isaac, Geno, Reimu, Napoleon) and then we'll get maybe 4-6 echo fighters. That's 13-15 new characters right there, which comes close to what Brawl and 3DS/Wii U initially added.

 

[Diddy Kong]

I'm thinking to when Melee was in development. You see, if Sakurai and the gang never added clones, we would've only had 7 new characters.
()

So I wonder if the development team will try once again to use clones/echos to pad out the roster. I'm thinking we'll get a total of 7-9 "built from the ground up" characters (Inkling, Ridley, King K. Rool, Waddle Dee, Isaac, Geno, Reimu, Napoleon) and then we'll get maybe 4-6 echo fighters. That's 13-15 new characters right there, which comes close to what Brawl and 3DS/Wii U initially added.

You seem to forget Mewtwo. But yeah, without clone additions, Melee would've had far less newcomers.

Echoes will probably buff up the roster with Ultimate. Which I still welcome with open arms, because the cast is already huge as it is and Echoes would add quite a bit of debt to the game.

 

[DMurr]

In my opinion, it's pretty clear with echo fighters being highlighted and identified as such that his statements are true about the smaller number of newcomers. Echo fighters are a way of compensating for the lowered number by still adding popular characters. I highly doubt we'll get many more than 3 more "true" newcomers total after Inkling and Ridley.

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

You seem to forget Mewtwo. But yeah, without clone additions, Melee would've had far less newcomers.

Echoes will probably buff up the roster with Ultimate. Which I still welcome with open arms, because the cast is already huge as it is and Echoes would add quite a bit of debt to the game.

Mewtwo is the only actual clone on the roster

 

[StormC]

I don't expect us to be suddenly inundated with clones just because they're called Echoes now. Melee had a development cycle of 13 months so it was necessary to add a bunch to pad out the roster. The focus here is on veteran characters and with almost 70, a bunch of clones aren't needed. I expect there'll be around 3 like there were in Brawl and 4.

 

[MattX20]

My personal theory is Sakurai will have 12 newcomers total echo fighters included and will likely be at most 8-9 new characters and 3-4 echos. Sakurai said you will start with the original game's characters, so he might decide to end the base roster with the same amount. After all, Melee has 14 counting Zelda and Shiek separate, 18 for Brawl with the Pokemon Trainer's Pokemon and ZSS counted separately, and 21 with the Mii Fighters counted seperately

 

[SmashChu]

I'm thinking Geno's gonna get it in. If there is few characters it's gonna go to characters that are big.

With Ridley in, Geno would definitely fit that role

Man, it's been a while since Brawl. Geno was one of the big characters everyone wanted and it was a shame he didn't happen. I would love to see him finally make it. Godspeed keeping the dream alive.

So near the end of the E3 launch, Sakurai said:

"We've made including every single fighter ever our number one goal, so I'm kind of hoping you aren't expecting too many new challengers"

So do you think we'll only get a handful of other newcomers MAYBE not including DLC or what?

It's hard to say. Sakurai has undersold before but fan always expect way more than what a happens. There are two bright spots. First, they mentioned they specifically ported assets, so that should make it easier to add all the characters. Second, a lot of the characters they are bringing back were added to Smash as they were easier to make (Y. Link, Wolf and Pichu). Its possible we could get more than we expect.

My guess is there will be 5 more new characters. This would be about the same number of new characters Melee added. We'll have to wait and see what happens. They have shown a few new things but it looks like they are trying to be mum and its hard to guess what we can expect as we really can't draw from past titles.