So just gonna throw out my prediction at this point for the rest of the roster, because why not?
Isaac, Dixie, Elma, Incineroar, Gardevoir, Banjo, and Karate Joe are unique newcomers
Isabelle, Impa, Ken, Black Shadow, Shadow, Yarn Yoshi, Medusa, Hilda, Felix, Octolings, and the Black Knight are echoes
Bandana Dee, Geno, Springman, Rex/Pyra, Slime, Waluigi, Bomberman and a perhaps a few more 3rd parties as DLC
Also there will totally be a Rabbids AT. I'm also predicting Shantae as an AT.
So I don't really expect this to be fully correct tbh, but I do think that the characters I listed each have a good shot at getting in and being in the category I listed them as. I just don't know if we'll get all of them together as such.
I do think that we will get more 3rd party newcomers as DLC than in the base roster. I think this just works better from a marketing perspective and people will be more likely to buy the DLC that way because a lot of the 3rd party choices are more hype to a broader audience than some of the left over first party characters.
I also think that, leak notwithstanding, Gardevoir has a better chance of being in the game than people give her credit for. I've posted this elsewhere but because of the confluence of events surrounding the ballot I would actually hazard a guess that she and sceptile had the most votes as far as pokemon go in the ballot. And I think, especially taking Japan into consideration, she has the more stable and longstanding popularity being that it wasn't based on trying to get a full trio of starter types into the game.
I also think that Geno isn't as likely to make the base roster as most everyone assumes. He has a decent chance of making it, but I think his overall popularity is a little overstated due to the echo chamber of speculation. But this is mostly just a gut feeling on my part. Speaking of which, I don't really think Skull Kid is happening at all. So we shall see on that one. I could see a new Zelda unique newcomer, but I'm just not sure who, so I stuck with Impa and Hilda (mostly just because she fits with Zelda's redesign so well) as echoes.
I'm also making a bold prediction that Dixie will not be an echo but rather a unique newcomer. This is more just based on what I want and what I think fits her, so take with a grain of salt (as with the rest of this post really). But I want my dreams to manifest by speaking (or typing) them into the world okay? lol Also Felix being in the game at all is the same thing. Really just being hopeful there.
Finally I think that Waluigi will be the first Assist Trophy to make the jump to playable via DLC. I think this is a possibility and that it is not as ridiculous as many seem to think. And I suspect that Waluigi will be the one to make it happen. After, my hope is that Bomberman can do the same. That's mostly just a bit more wishing on my part though. Possibly Ashley as well if that happens? Either way I do expect DLC and I think we may well get more than we did with Smash 4. I say this because the Switch is very successful and we are still early on in its life cycle. I'm less certain about which characters will be DLC, but I think the newer Nintendo characters have a very good shot (I'm inlcuding Bandana Dee in this because I'm hearing that he didn't become quite so popular until post ballot, but I won't lie I'm not super informed about that, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong there).
This is probably me being too optimistic (and also blinded by my own bias), but we shall see. I choose to remain hopeful, possibly to my own detriment.
So how crazy am I? lol
