So, as I said earlier, I have a lot of thoughts on different veterans thanks to the Direct:
Captain Falcon- All but confirmed. Goroh was in the trailer but I get a strong feeling that he'll be unlockable again, especially with F-Zero being even more irrelevant now than it was in Brawl.
Lucas and Ness- I feel like this is a very interesting situation. It was confirmed that Mother would indeed have multiple items again so there's no shadow of a doubt in my mind that at least one of them will return. I personally think they'll both be coming back. Why? Because of Captain Falcon's current situation. It's very likely that Captain Falcon will be unlockable again so I believe, in upkeeping with tradition, Ness will probably be unlockable again too. What does this mean for Lucas? He's probably in the starting roster again given how he's still the most current star of the Mother franchise. I'd also argue that Toon Link's reveal way back in September helped Lucas chances because, despite being a semiclone, Sakurai saw Toon Link as worth keeping. This all being said, I think both of the Mother boys are safe but I seriously doubt they'll be joined by anyone else.
Metaknight- Halberd. Done. Next.
Ice Climbers- I felt like this Direct eased a lot of doubts that I had about them returning. Sakurai mentioned that characters would be changed if they ran into technical difficulties with them instead of outright cutting them if they could prevent it. From the look of things, he kept his promise. ZSS and Sheik could have easily been cut but Sakurai just went ahead and made them separate characters. PT went from 4 programmable characters in one to just one stand alone character. Olimar was tweaked as to have less things on screen at once and not drag down the FPS. The fact that Sakurai mentioned the Ice Climbers by name back in August makes me strong believe that he worked extra hard to keep them in and he probably succeeded. Now the question that remains is how have they changed? So-Po with significant buffs? No more desyncing? Maybe they work the same as Rosalina and Luma do now. Time will tell. It should also be noted that they are now the only new Melee characters aside from Game and Watch that haven't been confirmed yet and with the lowest priority Melee character being back in (Sheik), I feel we'll be seeing them soon.
Ganondorf- Every other Zelda addition in the series so far is back and with Link and Zelda keeping their Twlight Princess character designs, I think he's all but guaranteed.
ROB- Sakurai has preserved enemies from the SSE in the new Adventure Mode and, with ROB being such a key part of that story, I don't doubt he'll return.
Ike- This might get interesting. I kind of get the feeling that because of how much Marth has been shown off before this game has been released I feel like he's going to be a starter character and, in a lot of ways, it makes a lot of sense. Since Brawl, he's starred in not one but two Fire Emblem games and was, in a roundabout way, a key character in Awakening. He's still the original lord of the franchise too and to bump him up to the starting roster would make sense. What does this have to do with Ike? Well, I feel like things will come down to two outcomes. Chrom's pretty much a given at this point. Arena Ferox saw to that a long time ago, nevermind he's the star of the latest game that so happens to be the best selling game of the franchise that's, on top of all this, credited with saving the series. Now it's just a matter of figuring out where Chrom fits in. If Chrom's in the starting roster, things don't look good for Ike. Aside from Captain Falcon and Ness, we have yet to have anyone in the starting roster of a game suddenly become unlockable in the next and those two had history on their side. I strongly doubt that all three will be available from the get-go but Ike does have some history on his side too: there's has always been at least one unlockable Fire Emblem character. This could push for Chrom being unlockable and Ike being a starter or, in an even stranger turn of events, having both Chrom and Ike being starters and Marth being the unlockable one. With all these possible outcomes, I imagine Ike fans are going to be biting their nails for awhile.
Jigglypuff- With Captain Falcon and Ness being strongly likely now and everyone else from the original cast being confirmed, I don't doubt the return of the puff.
