Shantae has an online tag icon among the misc. section of the tag icons, of the 106 third party (not counting Geno) tags she is the only one to not be from a playable representative's series or an AT. Rayman doesnt even have one.
I'm adding details to this.
There are four oddballs in terms of the online icons, they are...
Geno (Sort of)
Rex
Rayman
Shantae
Rex and Rayman are odd in how they lack online icons entirely. Shantae is the only 3rd party series with neither an AT or Fighter, while Geno sits in a grey area thanks to being a third party whose game is represented with only one primary and support much like Shantae,
but depending on how you look at it, he and SMRPG as a whole is considered part of the Mario franchise like Paper Mario or Mario & Luigi. Personally looking past that, I think Shantae and Geno could be in the same boat. The same goes for Rayman and Rex.
Depending on how you look at it this could be a sign that the door was left open for them in the uncertain future beyond the initial Fighter Pass.
For more recent tinfoil...
Call me crazy, Sakurai's Pick of the Day on May 1st might be referencing multiple elements from and about Shantae. Here's the pic from Twitter:
From the orange Zero Suit Samus, to her and the Flying Man referencing the Cuff and Boot GBC fighting moves, to more stretchy things like Wolf possibly being a fill in pirate and the pink clouds on Magicant referencing transformation "poofs" of the later games. Of course, do note that it could just be a simple reference not a nod to future newcomers, otherwise there's a slew of references in other PotDs.
Or the PotD could be nothing more than an over analyzation/coincidence all together.
Have fun.
