Just going to say as someone who didn't grow up in the 90's: the imgur leak looks terrible. None of those things get me excited, I "know" the characters, I just never experienced most of their games. I'm not saying any generation of players deserves more than the other, but if we can assume more young people are buying this game, those choices just aren't marketable.
Snake, Mimikyu, and Elma don't really redeem it for me imo. 2 newcomers and a veteran that I only kind of care about? No thanks, I really dislike this leak for how people praise it as the "ultimate" roster while a majority of the player base modern/casual will be left behind.
I mean i'm a total 90s guy and the leak looks great to me but im just curious who would you want that makes it better? I legit would like to know what a younger/modern gamer would expect/want in smash?
cause ridley/k rool/dixie/wolf/simon/geno/snake/ice climbers are all characters who seem to be from what i can see, all heavily requested by most people who have been with smash for a while.
sora representing kingdom hearts feels like a lot of somewhat younger gamers would be extremely pleased with that, older crowd too but kingdom hearts isnt a 80s or 90s series at all and 3 is coming out soon.
mimikyu and elma are super current and I cant imagine expecting much more than that for stuff that came out in the last say 3 years. when i make prediction rosters its usually a pokemon thats new, a xenoblade rep thats new, and then maybe an ARMS rep is about the only other "new" character i can think of that seems missing here, and dont forget inklings are a newer crowd rep for sure too.
Goroh,medusa, chorus kids, and porky are the odd or at least less expected/requested choices but they fit and probably have interesting movesets and certainly a lot of personality, im not particularly partial to any of them ( though i think they are all good choices) so i dont think its that they are only appealing to an older crowd so much as they are from lesser played series and somewhat less expected/a bit obscure, but that applies to how everyone might feel about their inclusion regardless of age.
takamaru has older/retro fans but they are only in japan anyone whos a fan in the west (myself included) just likes the concept of him(a samurai character) or would love his series to be revived cause itd be a cool series for nintendo to do stuff with, but the game was never known about and played here until many many years later.
so again im not trying to be rude here or force "liking" of this possible roster leak but I honestly am curious what do you expect or what would a roster that would excite you even look like as i legitimately have no idea whats missing here. I could name a few characters I want that arent here, waddle dee captain toad waluigi etc... but its not like this roster wouldnt check a few boxes for seemingly everyone even if a few expected characters arent here.
and as a side note, if this does turn out to be true, keep in mind theres almost certainly DLC and "newer" reps like say an ARMS character or captain toad might be saved for that so you might be very pleased with the game after all is said and done.