I will be announcing the Waluigi moveset and gameplay voting round soon but I do want to open the thread to a period of discussion.
How do you feel about the five newcomers?
How would the Smash community react to them as E3 reveals?
Do you have any ideas and concepts for Crash and Stylist that you want to discuss with others?
Personally I'm very pleased with the newcomers so far.
Bandana Dee was my most wanted for Ultimate, and Kirby needs better representation. He was the only character I would have really pushed to be included in this so I'm glad he is in early.
Isaac has earned his spot for managing to be a consistent request since Brawl. And if the rumors are true, a new Golden Sun sequel is coming, so Isaac won't just be "the guy from smash". The amount of series being introduced that are from nNntendo are seeming to the minority recently, so I'm glad a new series is in.
I love the Mario cast, and it was odd seeing Daisy before Waluigi, but it makes sense because she's an echo so it takes less dev time. I think Waluigi, despite being virtually a spin off character in his own series, is more recognizable than almost all of the remaining first party requests so I'm glad he's in. It is a little weird that on the character selection screen Wario will not be in his overalls, but Waluigi will. This would be more of an issue with the Smash 4 stlye CSS order, where its by series rather than fighter number because now Wario and Waluigi won't be next to each other but still. I would rather Waluigi's moveset be based more on the spinoffs than him breaking the 4th wall, as Waluigi has never actually broken the 4th wall in any games to my knowledge, but either moveset would be still be fun.
The Octo Expansion was a very enjoyable experience for me, so Octoling immediately became one of my most wanted for a potential smash sequel, assuming that she wouldn't get in as the same time as inkling. Nintendo also seems to be adopting Splatoon as one of its core franchises along side Zelda, Mario, and Animal Crossing, so expanding the fighter representation makes sense to me.
I'm excited for crash to be in simply for the Mario vs. Sonic. Vs. Crash matchup, but I don't actually know much about his series, and have never played any of the games either. I mainly play nintendo games, so my most wanted are almost all first party and cartoony, but I think Crash has the nintendo vibe to him that some third partys don't. It makes Crash feel like a natural inclusion, like Sonic and Mega Man, rather than a crossover like Snake and Joker.
I know next to nothing about the Stylist or her series, so I'm not super excited for her, but I'm glad the surprise character is someone who I'm not super familiar with, otherwise it wouldn't be much of a surprise fighter.
I think the Community would respond pretty well to these newcomers. Waluigi, Bandana Dee, Isaac, and Crash might be the top 4 most popular characters not in smash right now. Sora and Geno are also pretty popular, but there is also more controversy associated with them. The newcomers so far might be predictable, but I don't think this takes away from their inclusion. Admittedly, I care more about just getting the fighter in than having a unique playstyle, so I understand why some feel that the newcomers are too simple so far.
I Don't have any ideas for the Stylist, but for Crash I don't think he should use the new mask abilites in Crash 4, as those are so far only a single game mechanic, and would have to be a large part of his moveset to be represented properly.