Wow.
I was teaching this morning and simply couldn't get the Direct to come through on the crappy 3G connection. I quickly hurried to the nearby coffee shop to watch it, despite knowing we got Simon, Richter, Chrom, Dark Samus, and King K. Rool. What a morning!
We also got a few disconfirmations (unfortunately), which Mimikyu and Ashley biting the bullet. They will not be playable in this particular Smash game.
I'm still in a trance of disbelief right now based on all the information we've received. Not to mention, we're going to know every single character in the base game prior to release, and there's still that mystery mode.
With the Rathalos doubling as a boss and assist trophy, and Dracula appearing on what appear to be a completely different version of Dracula's Castle, we're either getting an incredible detailed adventure mode, or some sort of Subspace mode. I can't help but feel it's a mix, because the file size of the game simply wouldn't be able to store a Subspace like Brawl did, afaik.
Sakurai mentioned there's a total of 103 stages in the game. Based on the image of the stage select screen, every known stage is there. I can't help but believe that those final 6 spots will eventually be filled in as that's a very suspicious looking gap. That could be by surprise additions later on, or through DLC. Either way, I'm going to say that will all eventually be filled up for a nice, completely filled stage select screen.
With the confirmation of slight differences between Dark Samus and Samus, I am completely onboard with considering Shadow a potential Echo Fighter. I think it actually makes complete sense considering he has now survived E3, and another look at Assist Trophies.
Speaking of Assist Trophies, we now have a whopping 40ish. If there's over 50, we're almost there.
I'll be throwing together a Roster Maker chart of who I think has a shot, and who I think doesn't. I'm sure some people might be salty, and I apologize, but I think certain characters got shrek'd, even from not appearing in this Direct.