Going back to this because I believe that this is one of, if not
the most important things Sakurai has said indicating the possibility of third-party characters in Smash Bros.
The question is, what are the "major globally-recognized franchises" that are left? If I had to speculate, here's some I'd say:
- Kingdom Hearts
- Persona
- Cave Story (most likely indie choice imo)
- Monster Hunter
- Devil May Cry
- Tales of
- Tekken (previously considered)
- Minecraft
- DOOM (significant to gaming history)
- Crash Bandicoot (if it's popular in Japan)
I'm likely missing a few here