Secret characters as stage elements?

[BADGRAPHICS]

We already know that Toon Link appears both as part of a stage and as a returning character.

As many of you may be aware, we recently saw some interested photos that seemed to show Palutena was playable, and with today's Miiverse photo, she appears as a statue on the Wii U's Kid Icarus stage.

When Pyrosphere was first shown, we also get the cryptic message "Out of the blue, here's a new stage--the Pyrosphere from Metroid: Other M! An enemy from Samus's past may appear at any second..."; heavily suggesting that Ridley appears as a stage element. Could he also be playable?

Could it actually be more likely that a character is playable if they appear as part of a stage? Are these stages somehow linked to the unlocking of those characters? What other stages could be hiding secret characters?

 

[DeathFox137]

All I can say is only time will tell. Besides, I think that is a sign of a new stage with the Palutena statue. It was supposed to be a new stage from Kid Icarus, the NES classic. I don't know. That's just me. But yet again, anything can happen

 

[Terrazi Terrajin]

I personally feel we will see both of them playable at this rate.
The way he showed the pyrosphere many times and hinted at "an enemy from samus' past appearing at any moment" kinda makes me doubt he's a stage hazard, it just doesn't make sense to intentionally hold off on revealing a stage hazard of all things.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

Yeah, the stage hazard thing has been blown horribly out of proportions, people have fooled themselves into thinking that Sakurai made a confirmation of a hazard rather than just writing the usual flavor text like he always does. I don't believe that Ridley will even be a hazard at all, not even in Toon Link fashion, I'm betting on Pyrosphere being a neutral stage.

As for Palutena, the statue is just that, a statue, it wouldn't even need to be changed when Palutena is in the match.

On another note, I think it's really cool that we already have 3/4 of the Smashboards Elite Four's* stages, despite none of them having been confirmed yet.

*In case anyone doesn't know, the often referred to Smashboards Elite Four are K. Rool, Little Mac, Palutena and Ridley.

 

[D-idara]

Yeah, the stage hazard thing has been blown horribly out of proportions, people have fooled themselves into thinking that Sakurai made a confirmation of a hazard rather than just writing the usual flavor text like he always does. I don't believe that Ridley will even be a hazard at all, not even in Toon Link fashion, I'm betting on Pyrosphere being a neutral stage.

As for Palutena, the statue is just that, a statue, it wouldn't even need to be changed when Palutena is in the match.

On another note, I think it's really cool that we already have 3/4 of the Smashboards Elite Four's* stages, despite none of them having been confirmed yet.

*In case anyone doesn't know, the often referred to Smashboards Elite Four are K. Rool, Little Mac, Palutena and Ridley.

I wouldn't mind Other M Ridley being a hazard and Super Metroid Ridley being a character, their designs are different enough to tell them apart, and more Ridley is always better!

 

[MasterOfKnees]

I wouldn't mind Other M Ridley being a hazard and Super Metroid Ridley being a character, their designs are different enough to tell them apart, and more Ridley is always better!

If it means Super Metroid Ridley as playable I'm all for it. However, I'm still expecting Other Ridley.

 

[BADGRAPHICS]

I'm wondering if we're going to see more characters that are appearing as both playable and as stage elements.

Toon Link and Palutena (provided the leak is real) being included in stages makes me wonder what other secretly playable characters might be hiding in the background.

 

[lordvaati]

I have a feeling they might do that with one of the Pokémon.

 

[BADGRAPHICS]

Fleshed out the OP a bit; I'll keep it updated if we get any other information that supports the pattern.

 

[Justin Bailey]

I'd say it's too early to tell since we only have 1 confirmation to go by.