You know, with all the people related to Smash speculation that have been dying or are dead this time, having the quote in my sig doesn't seem so fun anymore, so I'll remove it if a Direct happens on October.
This is a great idea!
Mine goes:
S: Tails, Heihachi, Lara Croft, Dante.
A: Mega Man X, Chun-Li, Jin Kazama, Jill/Leon, Raiden.
B: Knuckles, Zero, Alucard, Sora.
C: Phoenix Wright, Chrono, Rayman, Bomberman, Nightmare.
D: Other big 3rd party characters
F: Any indie character
Ooh, my turn.
S: Shantae, Rayman, Shovel Knight, Earthworm Jim, Klonoa, Blaze the Cat, Crash & Coco Bandicoot
A: Bomberman, Ms. Pac-Man, Duke Nukem, Goemon, Spyro, Morrigan, Bonk
B: Dr. Eggman, Tails, Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding, Marco/Peregrine Falcons/Ikari Warriors, Banjo-Kazooie, Master Higgins
C: Quote/Curly, Dr. Wily, anyone from Dragon Quest, Rash, Conker, Amy Rose
D: Rules of Nat--er, Raiden, Dr. Neo Cortex, Arthur, Sparkster
F: Most other big third parties, any interesting indie character that's too recent or still hasn't had their game out yet.
Z: Steve
Id love to see Mario Party, Mario Kart, and Mario Sports become series' in their own right, outside of the Mario logo.
I don't know how it could happen though, except over many iterations. Changing branding is very difficult.
EDIT: The lack of love Lara Croft gets is astounding. I'd much rather have a known third party character that is not associated with Nintendo, then a dead third party character just because it is slightly associated with Nintendo.
On the bright side, she'll get more attention once the current biggest wants get in (in theory, at least).