just got in, been reading here and there, but, to make my point on echo's,
#1: you all take sakurai's and others words way too literally.
self-explanatory. Yes, the Zelda thing is a nice excuse, but we don't have have a Ganondorf from Breath of the Wild and somewhere (correct me if I'm wrong) it's stated that the developers wanted to go with a character from each main zelda game
also... I'm with
vaanrose
that it's entirely possible to see no new echo fighters beyond Daisy. I'm definitely not expecting them to hit double digits with echoes; that's for sure.
#2: echoes are likely going to be an after-thought
semi-clones/echoes/alt costumes are pretty much always a 'towards the latter half of development'. if anyone gets echo'd or anything else like that, it's probably b/c they weren't going to make the base roster with an 100% unborrowed moveset
#3: "___ would be wasted potential as an echo" is a non-argumnent
it's a nice emotion! it's a non-argument. As a Wolf and Lucas fan, I understand the feel - I get annoyed that those characters weren't as unique as they could have been. Unless we're talking something completely absurd (K. Rool as an Echo of Captain Falcon, which if someone mods that,
please send it to me) it can
probably work (at least, from a technical standpoint)
So, can you program Dixie to be an echo? Technically, yes. Same with a lot of the other characters that keep getting brought up? Yeah, probably.
#4: many mentioned 'echo characters' can really go either way
there's characters like chrom that, if included, would absolutely be echo fighters, but for Dixie it could go either way.
could I see her so late in development that they go with her as a semi-clone? Yes.
could I see her so late in development that they go with her as an echo fighter? Yes.
do I see her as a 'later in development' character? Yes.
what do I see her more as? If included in the game, probably a semi-clone/borrowing some move properties, but not enough to be considered an Echo. Probably.
is this same argument basically repeating itself in circles? Yes.
tl;dr: From a technical standpoint, it's possible. I can see the arguments either way, but remember: Other characters that aren't Echo Fighters but still borrow a lot don't cost much time. I assure you Pichu costed them less than most of the characters on the roster. Whatever they do w/ possible Echo Fighters characters is beyond us.