Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Roster Thread

[drag0nscythe]

I wikk expand on this later, but i believe we only have 3 more new comers and 4 more echos.

I believe the final roster will contain the following final characters:

Ashley
Elma
Bandana dee


For echos
Doc lewis.
Isebelle
Octoling
Chrom

https://orig00.deviantart.net/5a9b/...te___final_roster_by_drag0nscythe-dcg6pmg.png

Reasoning is as follows:
Ashley is just as popular a choice as Ridley was and it seems listening to the fans is a big push this time around. The loudest communities were Ridley and Ashley in the past, so she seems the most possible.

Elma, Xenosaga is a popular new IP and the series is just ever increasing. She seems like a good fit.

Bandana Dee. No explanation. I just want him.

Doc Lewis. Not sure why, I just have this feeling he will make it in. I may be wrong, I did not watch the entire direct, but I did read the cemetery thread, and I did not see him listed. They already have his model from Smash Wii U. Slapping Lil macs moveset on him seems like a no brainer.

Isebelle. Super popular. That is all.

Octoling. Inkling is a new character and having another with the unique mechanics seems like a win.

Chrom. He has his day now. As an Ike clone. But again, low hanging fruit. And we have not seen Robins FS yet.

 

[AIM0001]

Roster Predictions

NEWCOMERS (Base Game)
1. King K. Rool
2. Geno
3. Spring Man/Ribbon Girl
4. Simon Belmont
5. Decidueye
6. Impa
7. Shadow The Hedgehog (Echo)
8. Ms. Pac-Man (Echo)
9. Chrom (Echo)
10. Octoling (Echo)


DLC
1. Rayman
2. Banjo Kazooie
3. Shovel Knight
4. Fire Emblem Rep
5. Rex & Pyra
6. Marx
7. Paper Mario

 

[ZagarTulip]

Here is my Post-E3 Roster, Keep in mind, this is supposed to be a Pre-DLC roster so it may seem lackluster at first, not to mention the direct said something like "don't expect too many fighters"

Newcomers:

1. Daisy - Confirmed
2. Birdo - More of a personal pick but I feel she'd be interesting. She could be exchanged for Paper Mario or Geno if need be
3. King K. Rool - Since he is so popular, his chances of getting in are pretty high especially due to how Ridley was added due to fan demand
4. Tetra - Give another character to go along with Toon Link and be a Pirate-themed fighter
5. Ridley - Confirmed
6. Inkling - Confirmed
7. Klonoa - Also a personal pick. but it may be exchanged for Shadow the Hedgehog.
8. Sora - Due to the popularity of Kingdom Hearts and the fanbase that want him in smash, I feel his chances are getting high enough
9. Crash - Crash Bandicoot on the Switch is giving him enough potential to be in Smash

Honourable Mentions:

1. Bandana Dee - He is getting more Popularity over time and very well might be featured
2. Paper Mario - Alternative to Birdo - He has popular titles that have been really good
3. Geno - Alternative to Birdo - Maybe not fan wanted anymore but he has moveset potential and was very popular
4. Micaiah - While she definitely is my fave Fire Emblem Protagonist, I just felt like there was more valuable roster spaces.
5. Isaac - Having not appeared as an Assist Trophy in SSB4 gave me hopes for him to be playable in the future, however I am trying to limit the amount of newcomers in this roster.
6. Shadow the Hedgehog - Alternative to Klonoa - Since Knuckles took the place of a Sonic Assist Trophy, it seems they are willing to make Shadow playable. I just want to wait a little longer to include him in my roster
7. Dragon Quest Hero - Alternative to Sora - I really have seen potential for a DQ character however I feel Sora is generally more popular, at least as a Smash Candidate

 

[smashingDoug]

Wish list no order, don’t think most would even be considered, lots of third party’s be warned. I just think the Nintendo all stars are all picked if not most
K rool
Dixey and kiddy tag
Vaati
Crash
Spyro
Tingle
Impa
Waluigi only if he has that suck it taunt from strikers
Banjo
Goemon
Agumon
Ray mk
Conker
Lyn
majora's mask or warth
Wart
Billy lee with jimmy alt
Master chief come at me
Duke Nukem again come at me but know this I’m out of gum
Simon Belmont
Ryu Hayabusa
Black shadows don’t care if ganondorf stays a simi I want Batman lookalike.
Porky
Masked man
Dark matter blade
Marx
Sylux
Slippy
Krystal

 

[MrMcNuts]

So heres my roster prediction when it comes to newcomers.

Geno: cause he's been considered before
Simon: cause of the leak
King K Rool: massive ballot popularity
Rayman: Good Ubi relations with Nintendo and unused amiibo data was found for him in Mario maker 3ds along with Roy and ryu amiibo data
Dark samus: samuses dark samus alt is gone so I could see her being an echo
Decidueye: popular starter from gen 7

The rest in possible are just because of timing or consideration and banjo I see more as dlc if anything.

 

[WallyPalmer]

This is my take on the Roster, with veterans in blue, original newcomers in green, and echoes in yellow.

Newcomers:
Geno - A long-time fan requested character and one that's been acknowledged by Sakurai over and over again, whether in interviews or as a Mii costume in Smash 4. I think with the focus on fan requests, as well as his probable popularity on the polls, Geno is a likely character.
Ashley - Another fan request, especially in Japan. Her exemption from the revealed assist trophies is also notable. Also, another WarioWare rep would be nice, as well as another mage. There's great potential for her moveset as well.
Dixie Kong - Donkey Kong needs more representation, straight up. It's a large, ongoing flagship franchise and is important in nintendo history. Dixie Kong is a notable character, being featured in Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3, as well as recent games.
King K. Rool - Arguably the most-requested newcomer, and despite dwindling relevance, this character seems like a good option to get in.
Bandana Dee - My personal favorite choice for a newcomer. He did well on the ballot and is a very good boy.
Simon Belmont - Leak bandwagon yo.

Echoes:
Impa (Sheik) - The Echo I'd like to see the most. She's the most notable Zelda character apart from the Triforce Trio and can easily appropriate Sheik's moveset.
Dark Samus (Samus), Shadow (Sonic), and Isabelle (Villager) - I chose these three due to, like Ashley, their conspicuous dissapearance from Assist Trophies. They all seem fairly likely, with Dark Samus seeming the most so, due to Samus' costume also gone missing.
Octoling (Inkling) - Octoling is a fun one that I've seen around, and I do like their aesthetic a lot, and having an Echo for a newcoming would be a like a 2-for-1

Notable Exemptions (Possible DLC):
A Xenoblade Rep - I'm totally unfamiliar with Xenoblade, but from the looks of it, Rex and Pyra seem like a fan-favorite for DLC
Fire Emblem newcomer - I mean,, do we NEED more medieval animes? We already have multiple swordsmen and two mages, so I'm not sure if there is another newcomer that could fill a unique niche. The new game is coming out in 2019 though.
Banjo Kazooie, Spyro, Crash, etc. - These third parties don't seem very likely to me, and while there is fan request for them, it seems only very vocal in the west. If they get in, I'm betting them as DLC
ARMS Rep - DLC dawg
Pokemon - Gen 7 really came and went, with no notable stand-out pokemon like greninja was for Gen 6 or Lucario was for Gen 4. I could maybe see Gen 8 as DLC, but that depends on how long this game's half-life will be. DLC will likely last until the Gen 8 starter reveal, so let's wait until then.

 

[Chase]

Here's an edited roster of 74, which I think is going to stay my roster for a while. It features 8 unique newcomers and 7 echo fighters, which is probably more than we are going to actually get...oh, well.

Newcomers:

• Ashley & Red Cast A Spell! (Wario) - Ashley and Red are by far the most popular Wario characters, and the two have a set of skills that, unlike some of the other reoccurring Wario cast, could transfer very well into a moveset. Ashley & Red as characters could be based around Ashley casting spells to change the attributes of their opponents, such as making heavier opponents lighter so they're easier to defeat, or making a faster character slower so they're easier to trap. This could be balanced through making the effects of these spells somewhat inconsistent (much like in canon) and only lasting for a short period of time. The fact that Ashley's assist trophy is gone makes me think that she will likely join the battle as a playable fighter.
• Geno Whirls Into Battle! (Mario) - I spoke about Geno on my last post, so I'll just skip to the moveset discussion. Geno is a character based around timing in Super Mario RPG, and I think this could definitely transfer to Smash by making his moves stronger and having additional effects if you follow up your combos in a rhythm. Basically, Geno is a moveset-wide version of Marth's dancing blade, and I think he could be a character who rewards players who are extremely familiar with the game, as he is extremely difficult to master.
• King K. Rool Krushes the Kompetition! (Donkey Kong) - K. Rool's moveset potential is literally endless, as his popularity for all intents and purposes, but his main gimmick of being a heavyweight based on projectiles and trapping rather than brute force already creates a very fascinating idea of a character. Rather than relying on his brute strength (which he does have and will use if he has to, make no mistake), K. Rool should rely on his blunderbuss and other weapons to make the battlefield an utter living hell for every opponent he faces, and not be afraid to use dirty tricks such as playing dead.
• Elma Makes It Double! (Xenoblade) - Also already spoken about Elma, and I think she is the most likely new inclusion out of everyone here. Her dual pistols and blades could make for a very interesting technical character who is focused on changing weapons for a dedicated situation (like starting with the pistols to get an opponent that is far away, and using the blades to finish them off when they're up close).
• Lip Puzzles the Opposition! (Panel de Pon) - A change in retro pick from the previous roster of mine, Lip ended up beating out Mach Rider because we've seen the re-designed Lip's Stick flowers, but not the stick. I think this is because Lip is joining the roster as a playable fighter, and I have a rather cool moveset idea for her. Lip would be the game's lightest character and be easy to defeat, but wield Lip's Stick as her weapon, which, like other games, gradually damaged opponents once flowers are placed on their head, but unlike its other Smash appearances, returns the sapped health to Lip once she attacks again. This causes Lip to be a character who benefits most from being at lower percentages, a stark contrast to the power boost gained by heavyweight characters due to rage at high percentages. Plus, we haven't really had a healing character yet, and Lip could be a great character to use this idea with.
• Ridley Hits the Big Time! (Metroid) - Confirmed.
• Inkling Brings the Paint! (Splatoon) - Confirmed.
• Never Fear, Simon Belmont Is Here! (CastleVania) - Basically confirmed, and could use his whip to make a fun ranged moveset based on grappling opponents and using the iconic weapons from the CastleVania games. Simon could be an utter terror to air fighters due to his sheer range, but perhaps this could be balanced out by somewhat limiting his KO potential? A heavyweight based on whittling opponents down could be another interesting take on the weight, much like K. Rool above him.
• Honorable Mentions: Bandana Dee, Lycanroc, Mach Rider, F-Type, Chorus Men

Echoes:

• -> - Confirmed.
• -> Dixie Kong - As said on the previous post, the fact that Diddy's tail attacks seem to be gone is suspect as all hell. While I think Dixie should and could be a unique fighter, an echo of Diddy is likely.
• - > Dark Samus - Samus' costume and the assist trophy are gone; something's fishy. Dark Samus I would say is the most likely echo, as she has multiple things leading to her inclusion and is literally just a pallet swap.
• -> - Confirmed.
• -> - Confirmed.
• -> Octoling - This one I was kind of iffy on, and ended up bouncing between Octoling and Chrom for a while. However, the squids won out simply because of how popular they are without having a pre-defined role, and Splatoon could definitely get two reps if one of them is a clone.
• -> Shadow - Explained this on the previous post, nothing new to say except for the fact that his Assist Trophy is gone is suspect, especially because he's been one for two games in a row.
• Honorable Mentions: -> Impa, -> Chrom

 

[xpnc]

75 characters + Echoes. Probably too many. Mimikyu is basically an "insert Gen 7 Pokémon here" slot. Think this would satisfy just about everyone.

 

[T!t!]

Ok, so since it's already known at this point that all characters will make their return and that Ridley and Inkling are going to be in, I'll just move ahead and predict the final newcomers.

I predict a roster of about 70 characters and I'll list newcomers and echo fighter newcomers in seperate rows to highlight them from the roster we already know.

The ! Newcomer icons are placeholders. I expect 6 more newcomers with UNIQUE movesets. Therefore I list two more echo fighters (Octoling and Medusa) separate from them since i think they could become last minute additions and be based of Inkling and Palutena. Also I listed Ribbon Girl since I think she would be an alt for Spring Man.

Now let's look who I expect to join the roster in terms of unique characters.

First things first: I do think we get an ARMS character so I picked Spring Man as the most iconic example. ARMS is a fighting game and since Little Mac and Ryu from actual fighting games made it in, I feel they will support their newest fighting game ip with a newcomer in Smash Ultimate.

Labo Robot is my wild 1st party guess that I could imagine to make it in just like R.O.B. made it into the roster in Brawl days.

Getting a new Pokémon from the recent gen is like an unwritten rule as for now. We always got at least one new Pokémon character in every game and Decidueye making his appearance in Pokken in my opinion supports him making it into Smash Ultimate as well.

I also think Bandana Dee is likely to make it into Smash Ultimate. People keep asking for him so I'm sure Sakurai at least considered the idea at some point. He would be the perfect final addition to the Kirby franchise lineup in Smash Ultimate.

Dillon is another kind of wild guess that I could see happening mainly because they upgraded his series from being eShop exclusive 10-15€$ title to becoming a fullprize title that even in some regions got a physical release. So far he hasn't been shown as an assist trophy and him not being featured at all in my opinion would be weird considering the way they try to push his series with the latest installment. He's definitely not a safe guess but I consider him a decent pick nevertheless.

Last but not least I think we will get a 3rd party newcomer in Smash Ultimate as well. There are two picks that I consider likely due to a certain iconic status and/or due to recent releases (Rayman and Crash from Crash Bandicoot). Fighting Rayman with Sonic or Crash with Mario seems like more "dream come true" match-ups. Since I didnt want to just put both in it, I went with Rayman who I consider more likely since he seems to be the more iconic pick by far.

So there you have it. My picks aren't going to change unless any of those characters are confirmed being an assist trophy or stage hazard.

Spring Man, Labo Robot, Decidueye, Bandana Dee, Dillon and Rayman.

 

[Elec]

sakurai stated that there wouldnt be too many fighters, so i predict that therell be about 72 unique character numbers in the base roster, some semi clones, as well as 6 echo fighters in total, and maybe we will get 7 dlc characters like last time. anyways lets look into it.

red - newcomer
green - returning echo
yellow - new echo
purple - dlc

its no secret that the smash series needs more dk representation, and why not add 2 characters instead of 1? king k rool is an obvious pick, hes been requested since melee, has a mii costume, is a big fat villain, blah blah blah, hes been beaten to death and its about time he gets in. as for funky kong, i think funky kong would be a quick addition into the game. he has the same exact build as dk, so he could be a semi clone to dk, being faster than dk on the ground with a couple of different moves that involve his surfboard, but being slightly lighter. he could even bring in the flame runner from mkw as thats his most infamous appearance.

the next newcomer is bandana dee, which is my among my most wanted newcomers, hed just have a really unique moveset as hed be the first character in the roster using a spear, which would make for a fun playstyle. he has a huge following to back him up, and is up there even with the likes of k rool.

as for the pokemon rep, most people would put decidueye or some gen 7 pokemon here as gen 7 is the most recent generation of pokemon. the thing is though, smash ultimate's roster is extremely likely to be influenced by the smash ballot, which the gen 7 games had the misfortune of missing out upon, and so the most recent games at the time of the ballot, omegaruby alphasapphire, would have the most influence on it. and thats where sceptile comes in, sceptile was by far the most popular pokemon newcomer during the ballot, likely due to the fact that oras made hoenn fresh on everyone's mind. as for decidueye, we're not entirely sure on when sm started development, considering sma5h's project plan was finalized at dec 2015. so decidueye getting in depends entirely on if sakurai was able to get the concept art of decidueye just like greninja in sm4sh. thats why i decided to go with sceptile because im not sure of if sakurai is able to get concept art of decidueye as i dont know when sm started development + the ballot. it really could be either sceptile or decidueye, although i prefer decidueye because hes an archer which gives him a lot more room for a unique moveset.

its kinda depressing, f-zero is the only character to have a representative in every smash game, but only have one, the face of smash himself tbh. i think captain falcon should be joined by another f-zero racer, being black shadow. hes a villain and likely a heavyweight, and even though ganondorf already exists still with a semi clone moveset, i think black shadows bull aesthetic can make for some unique moves. hed be a quick addition into the game, and i wouldnt even mind him being an echo fighter.

now we have our retro rep, and with takamarus deconfirmation, i think the best retro rep would have to be balloon fighter. even though villager has a balloon fight inspired up b, that doesnt matter when you can also be tributing the co-creator of the smash bros series, satoru iwata, as balloon fight was one of the first games he made. balloon fight could have a mechanic like the more balloons he has the better his air mobility but also the more floaty he is or something like that, and maybe he could incorporate the flippers too?

simon belmont is on here cause of the leaks lol, hed be great with his whip and projectiles and wed finally get the complete duo of metroidvania in smash.

samus has had her dark samus alt removed in sma5h, likely suggesting that dark samus is an echo. although dark samus could have a unique moveset just like dark pit, the "dark" "name" just implies that theyd be a clone. celica could be an echo of robin, as they both use a sword and use magic. oh yea i also put another fire emblem echo here cause im lazy and couldnt think of any other first party characters to be echoes. i just put leif as an echo of roy because i think his light sword would make for cool effects, and having any judgral representation is good, and didnt put chrom over ike cause i thought awakening would have too much represntation then. we aren't sure of if third parties could get echoes which is why i left out shadow and ken from this list, but if they can then id want them to get echoes.

now for dlc, first up is rex&pyra, sakurai has stated that he really likes xenoblade 2 but unfortunately the game released 2 years after the project plan was decided, so thats why theyre dlc. idk xenoblade but apparently if the two are closer together they get stronger, not to mention pyra could transform into mythra and rex's attacks would have different properties, idk.

the fire emblem rep is actually edelgard from fe16, i personally want her in because she primarily seems to use axes, which we do not have any users of in smash (closest is dedede with his hammer). literally another corrin situation. the same thing could be said about a pokemon rep except this time we dont know what gen 8 looks like or what pokemon are there. perhaps it could also be a gen 7 mon assuming sceptile gets in the base roster.

while waluigi was confirmed as an assist trophy, he didnt appear as an assist trophy at all at e3. perhaps this means that sakurai is masterfully trolling us all and adding him as dlc or a secret char, or that im just really delusional (likely the latter).

the last three are third parties just like sm4sh, as i think they will generate a lot of hype. the first one is geno, who despite being a mario character, is owned by square. geno as you all know is highly requested, had a mii costume, and was even considered for brawl. rayman is on here because of nintendo and ubisofts relationship such as with mario and rabbids kingdom battle. then crash is here as just the character that will freak the internet out, about as much as cloud as he was one of marios biggest rivals, along with sonic. speaking of breaking the internet, i could also see banjo in place of crash, but crash seems more likely on the surface with his game being ported to the switch last week.

 

[airConditioner]

Based mostly on the July 9th leaks. The character choices are pretty typical with typical reasoning.

K. Rool, Isaac, and Bandana Dee are mostly due to the ballot. Bandana Dee has the bonus of the amiibo.
Saki is mysteriously missing and I think Sakurai said some good things about him before.
Simon vergeben
Elma was relevant

Echoes: Dark Samus - Samus, Chrom - Ike, Octoling - Inkling

This will probably change once July 9th passes and if DLC is announced.

 

[Domino11332]

Pretty much my dream roster for this game. While I don't think we'll be getting everyone here at all, I don't really think any specific choice here is all that unrealistic.

Paper Mario, Geno, Ashley, Lip, K. Rool, Ridley, Bandana Dee, Rex & Pyra, Inkling, Spring Man, Karate Joe, Issac, Chibi-Robo, Simon Belmont, Elma, and Rayman are the newcomers, making 16 in total. I think that is a lot to expect, but depending on how much DLC they want to make for this game, is entirely possible.

And Daisy, Dark Samus, Ninten, Isabelle, Louie, and Octoling, are the Echos.

 

[Garteam]

Here's my roster. 72 unique characters (counting Pokemon Trainer and the Miis as 3 characters) and 7 echo fighters. Newcomers are highlighted in green and Echoes are highlighted in yellow.

 

[TKOWL]

Here's my updated roster, drew everything myself. I have a version with future DLC on it, but that one is more crazy speculative and I want to keep this one realistic. The newcomers I have on here are:

-King K. Rool: self-explanatory
-Bandana Waddle Dee: completes the Return to Dream Land group, and adds a spear fighter.
-Mimikyu: you can exchange this one for Decidueye too, but Mimikyu would be a really fun and cool addition to the roster. I imagine its down-B being able to set up a Disguise where it can absorb one blow no matter how strong.
-Ninten: either a Ness echo or a semi-clone. Semi-clone might have to be an option since he'd probably use 4th-D Slip instead of PK Thunder.
-Elma: Pyra's voice actor hasn't been contacted by Sakurai yet and Xenoblade 2 came out very late into the production plan so she'll likely be in the base game, but Rex & Pyra are shoe-ins for DLC.
-Octoling: Inkling echo. Would use Octobrush, Range Blaster, and Tri-Slosher for her smash attacks and have the Dynamo Roller for her side-B.
-Spring Man: I think Sakurai had enough time from Arms being in concept phase for him to be added, but if not he would definitely be DLC. Really REALLY want him in either way though.
-Karate Joe: either him or any character from Rhythm Heaven like Tibby or the Chorus Kids, I don't care who, I just want a Rhythm Heaven character desperately.
-Geno: Sakurai has wanted him in for ages and the Mii Fighter costume shows he knows the fans do too.
-Simon Belmont: Most requested third-party rep by far, and would fit Smash incredibly well. Sakurai is also a big fan of Castlevania too, and getting back Snake plus a Bomberman assist means Konami and Sakurai are on good terms.

This roster has 74 slots, and 78 individual playable characters including Pokemon and Mii Fighters. There are 12 newcomers, three of which are echo fighters, so that makes for 9 brand new characters including Inkling and Ridley.

 

[MagnesD3]

Originally I would go with 9 newcomers and 3 echoes based on sakurai's comments but I found there wasnt enough room for inclusions I considered highly likely so I decided to expand the roster a little above melee's newcomer amount with 13 newcomers and 3 echoes making it still below brawl and wiiu's number count. Ive listed characters in the order I think they will be released I dont think the remaining echoes will be in the trailers (however I could see isabelle being in one) I also think Paper Mario, chorus kids and saki will be on disc surprises with no trailers. 3rd parties will get a trailer all to themselves minus geno's trailer imo. Bottom is the 10 dlc characters I think will show up.

Reasoning:

Simon Belmont: Vegerben leak, konami has let snake return and gave out a bomberman assist trophy, series heavily tied with nintendo, sakurai likes castlevania.

Elma: Sakurai tweet that he's working on gun/mech character, fits the time frame, is a fan of xenoblade series

Ashley: Huge Japanese popularity, assist trophy is missing, tweet hints/deletion by high level guy, sakurai gives alot of weight to newcomers desired from his home

Geno: Has been talked about by sakurai multiple times, had a mii costume in smash 4, popular all around and has been for along time, cloud's in and the relationship with square seems very good

Incineroar: Pokemon team will have pushed for a rep, incineroar was had the most detailed concept are and is the most obvious fighter of the starters at a glance, was being promoted with the anime/movie around that time frame. (wont be surprised if its decidueye or mimikyu tho)

King K. Rool: Extremely popular like ridley and has been wanted a long time (and ridley is in), Im assuming did very well on the ballot, had a mii costume in smash 4

Bandanna Dee: Popular in Japan which sakurai gives alot of weight to, its a sakurai franchise character, amiibo data

Banjo Kazooie: Popular 3rd party with deep ties to nintendo, would have been in melee if rare wasnt sold, Yooka Laylee stirred up banjo love around the time of the ballot/considering the roster for ultimate, phil spencer gave the ok for it to happen, nintendo has a deal with minecraft and microsoft, vegerben leak has a minecraft stage talked about on it.

Paper Mario: popular character with a franchise that has only a stage as representation, has alot games to pull inspiration from having its latest entry on wii u, unique moveset for sakurai to have fun with.

Chorus Kids: Rhythm Heaven is popular in Japan, credible rumors had them being worked on for smash 4, rhythm heaven doesnt have a rep and the moveset potential has a uniqueness sakurai would probably like

Saki: Retro Character, missing assist trophy, represents Treasure who has strong ties with nintendo in the past and gives sin and punishment a rep, popular once upon a time in japan.

Isabelle: Very popular, animal crossing is popular and she is its mascot now, easy echo fighter.

Chrom: Havent seen robins final smash, chrom fans were teased last game and sakurai doesnt want fans to feel hurt, easy echo fighter.

DLC:

Spring Man: Unique moveset, arms is a new franchise that needs to be promoted, honestly would have been in base if not for the roster already being finalized.

Captain Toad: Toad has always been popular, relatively new franchise with a great opportunity to promote it

Heihachi: Has been talked about by sakurai, harada wanted him in I belive, obvious tekken mascot, namco working on game again

Dixie Kong: was meant to be in brawl, easy semi clone, popular and has been in the last few games

Shadow: Very popular, easy semi clone (I dont think 3rd parties will get echo treatment out of respect), if any franchise were to get two reps it would be sonic, I imagine he did very well on the ballot

Isaac: Has been requested for along time and is relatively popular, assist trophy missing, golden sun finally represented.

Impa: Easy echo fighter, is the last strong mainstay character in the Zelda series

Rayman: Ubisofts relationship with Nintendo has only gotten stronger since smash 4, was wanted by ubisoft in smash 4

Crash: Resent resurgence in popularity, switch port of trilogy, rival mascot of 90's nintendo,

Spyro: also a rival mascot, owned by the same company as crash with a new trilogy on the horizon, has similar fanbase as crash and would come packaged with crash.

 

[SuperSceptile15]

How would you guys feel about this roster?
Blue = Veteran
Yellow = Echo
Green = Newcomer (Base Roster)
Red = Newcomer (DLC)

 

[pupNapoleon]

of course...

ultshulk:​

Additions:

Paper Mario
Captain Toad
Dixie Kong
King K. Rool
Chorus Kids
Bandana Waddle Dee
Chibi Robo
Balloon Fighter
Isaac
Ray MK
Lip
Eevee

Echoes:
Impa
Octolings
Isabelle
Shadow
Protoman
Jeanne
Ken
Ms Pacman

Third Party:
Rayman
Lara Croft
Banjo Kazooie
Steve
Crash
Spyro
Scorpion
Heihachi
Sora
Frogger
Simon Belmont
Bomberman
Angry Birds

 

[TheTrueBrawler]

This is the roster I am hoping for. I tried to make it organized because Smash Ultimate's predecessor made the roster confusing to navigate. This is assuming no other characters are added.



ultcorrin:


Random

- as echo fighter for
- as echo fighter for
- as echo fighter for
I would say they take up the same roster spot as their counterparts.

Characters I am Hoping For.
- Waluigi
- Chrom
- Any Gen VII Representative

Unconfirmed Alternate Skin Sets I Want
- Dry Bowser for
- Galacta Knight for

 

[BlueMagician]

Final Tally for Base Game
Guessed correctly: 4
Guessed incorrectly: 9 (painfully, too)
Fighters I didn't guess at all: 4 ( 6 when including Ridley and Daisy)

DLC I didn't guess at all: 1

In the end, I only guess 4 right and 3 were echoes. I'm not sure what to think.

No image this time.

Newcomers (9)
Inkling
Ridley
K.Rool: Internationally requested for a long time CONFIRMED, thankfully obvious
Simon: Vampire hunter, and third party
Isabelle: I half suspected her but never bet on it. Still happy, though.
Inceneroar: I guess it's in and not Rowlet or something

Echo (8)
Daisy
Dark Samus : Same body as Samus, has enough different moves CONFIRMED, this one was iffy but it happened
Chrom: I guess if the FE team feels they owe it to Awakening CONFIRMED, Chrom's been redeemed
Richter: Happy with this.
Ken: Only needs a new Down B CONFIRMED, Cool, I like Ken


DLC (8?)
Piranha Plant: Really?

Springman (+someone else?)
Rex+Pyra+Mythra
Octoling (edit: I don't think it'd be an echo if it's DLC)
Waluigi: Only because it was mentioned that it was brought to Sakurai's attention
Ashley (disconfirmed): If there's a Smash Ballot for DLC, she'll be up there.
The above, I'm not so sure about if they can escape their current position but I'd like it if they did.

Crash: Similar to the above. If he's getting in, it's through DLC
Banjo+Kazooie: Now that there's a third party confirmed, they'll have to wait for DLC, perhaps
Arle: Somewhat requested and might get in by some chance.
Jibanyan: The new Switch game will be a success and end up with Jibanyan in Smash. Level 5 deserves it.


Stuff I didn't get right:
Ashley: Though not quite at the top of the request list, she has many fans + the Wario team has worked on Smash since Brawl (+ I suspect she has fans from within Nintendo)
(Bandana) Waddle Dee: Likely and a fan favorite
Issac: Either someone on the screenshot staff is a fan or they are messing with us.
Dixie: Semi-clone of Diddy with different specials, I'd think. Maybe a weird echo like Chrom
Rhythm Heaven Char: As a Duck-Hunt or G&W-like amalgamation choice
Viridi: As a fighter similar to Palutena. Perhaps a long shot but I think every prediction roster should have one.
Rowlet: Long shot number 2. I couldn't decide on a Pokemon (which in itself seems likely) so I went with the round Rowlet.
Shadow: There's leeway on what echoes can do now
Hilda: Long shot number three I think the reason for Zelda's design change.
DLC: Gen 7 or 8 Pokemon because they missed the dev cycle

Spoiler: Pre 11/1 Direct

Update time for post 9/13 General Direct.

Compared to last prediction
Guessed correctly: 3
Guessed incorrectly: 1 (painfully, too)
Fighters I didn't guess at all: 3 ( 5 when including Ridley and Daisy)

This time, I cut back on the echoes as we approach launch, but I increased the DLC instead.

As last time, this is mostly prediction + a bit of personal want. R.Heaven and Alola Trainer are placeholders.

Newcomers (9)
Inkling
Ridley
K.Rool: Internationally requested for a long time CONFIRMED, thankfully obvious
Simon: Vampire hunter, and third party
Isabelle: I half suspected her but never bet on it. Still happy, though.

(Bandana) Waddle Dee: Likely and a fan favorite
Issac: Either someone on the screenshot staff is a fan or they are messing with us.
Dixie: Semi-clone of Diddy with different specials, I'd think. Maybe a weird echo like Chrom
Rhythm Heaven Char: As a Duck-Hunt or G&W-like amalgamation choice
Viridi: As a fighter similar to Palutena. Perhaps a long shot but I think every prediction roster should have one.
Rowlet: Long shot number 2. I couldn't decide on a Pokemon (which in itself seems likely) so I went with the round Rowlet.

Echo (8)
Daisy
Dark Samus : Same body as Samus, has enough different moves CONFIRMED, this one was iffy but it happened
Chrom: I guess if the FE team feels they owe it to Awakening CONFIRMED, Chrom's been redeemed
Richter: Happy with this.

Shadow: There's leeway on what echoes can do now
Ken: Only needs a new Down B
Hilda: Long shot number three I think the reason for Zelda's design change.

DLC (8?)
Springman (+someone else?)
Rex+Pyra+Mythra
Octoling (edit: I don't think it'd be an echo if it's DLC)
Gen 7 or 8 Pokemon
All basically because they missed the dev cycle

Crash: Similar to the above. If he's getting in, it's through DLC
Banjo+Kazooie: Now that there's a third party confirmed, they'll have to wait for DLC, perhaps
Waluigi: Only because it was mentioned that it was brought to Sakurai's attention
Ashley (disconfirmed): If there's a Smash Ballot for DLC, she'll be up there.
Arle: Somewhat requested and might get in by some chance.
Jibanyan: The new Switch game will be a success and end up with Jibanyan in Smash. Level 5 deserves it.

Spoiler: 2nd roster prediction, post 8/8 pre 9/13

Time to update this post 8/8 Direct.

Compared to last prediction
Guessed correctly: 3
Guessed incorrectly: 1 (painfully, too)
Fighters I didn't guess at all: 2 ( 4 when including Ridley and Daisy)

I've moved some people around and went crazy with echoes this time

Edit: image uploaded. As last time, this is mostly prediction + a bit of personal want. R.Heaven, MetaKnight, and Trainer are basically placeholders

Newcomers (9)
Inkling
Ridley
K.Rool: Internationally requested for a long time CONFIRMED, thankfully obvious
Simon: Vampire hunter, and third party

(Bandana) Waddle Dee: Likely and a fan favorite
Dixie: Semi-clone of Diddy with different specials, I'd think. Maybe a weird echo like Chrom
Rhythm Heaven Char: As a Duck-Hunt or G&W-like amalgamation choice
Viridi: As a fighter similar to Palutena


Echo (8)
Daisy
Dark Samus : Same body as Samus, has enough different moves CONFIRMED, this one was iffy but it happened
Chrom: I guess if the FE team feels they owe it to Awakening CONFIRMED, Chrom's been redeemed
Richter: Happy with this.

Shadow: There's leeway on what echoes can do now
Ken: Only needs a new Down B
Dark Metaknight(or Morpho Knight, or Galactica Knight) : Because why not
Hilda: I think the reason for Zelda's design change

DLC (8?)
Springman (+someone else?)
Rex+Pyra+Mythra
Octoling (edit: I don't think it'd be an echo if it's DLC)
Gen 7 or 8 Pokemon
All basically because they missed the dev cycle

Crash: Similar to the above. If he's getting in, it's through DLC
Banjo+Kazooie: Now that there's a third party confirmed, they'll have to wait for DLC, perhaps
Waluigi: Only because it was mentioned that it was brought to Sakurai's attention
Ashley (disconfirmed): If there's a Smash Ballot for DLC, she'll be up there.

Spoiler: 1st prediction, pre 8/8 Direct

This is a combination of prediction and want, but veering towards prediction.

But since we know all the vets are returning I'll only post the newcomers:

Newcomers (9)
Inkling
Ridley
(Bandana) Waddle Dee: Likely and a fan favorite
Dixie: Semi-clone of Diddy with different specials, I'd think
K.Rool: Internationally requested for a long time
Banjo+Kazooie: Between this duo and Rayman, and I think the Rayman push went in a different direction
Ashley: Though not quite at the top of the request list, she has many fans + the Wario team has worked on Smash since Brawl (+ I suspect she has fans from within Nintendo)
Rhythm Heaven Char: As a Duck-Hunt or G&W-like amalgamation choice
Viridi: As a user of the customs that Palutena didn't get (edit: I think I should clarify that she wouldn't be an echo, she would just have some or maybe all specials similar to Palutena's, sort of the reverse situation of my hypothetical Dixie)

Echo (4)
Daisy
Dark Samus : Same body as Samus, has enough different moves
Chrom: I guess if the FE team feels they owe it to Awakening
Hilda: I think the reason for Zelda's design change

DLC (6?)
Springman (+someone else?)
Rex+Pyra+Mythra
Octoling (edit: I don't think it'd be an echo if it's DLC)
Mimikyu
All basically because they missed the dev cycle
Crash: Similar to the above. If he's getting in, it's through DLC
Waluigi: Only because it was mentioned that it was brought to Sakurai's attention

edit: added Hilda, had meant to

edit2: Please stop quoting or replying to this post in this topic, it's against the rules and I shouldn't have to say it

 

[Yellow-SpottedBlackMagick]

this is my ideal roster that i think is realistic, along with some personal "never evers." dark samus, louie, and medusa are echoes

 

[xpnc]

Trimmed the fat a little bit since last time. 70 characters, 8 echoes.

Newcomers (Green): Inkling, Ridley, K. Rool, Ashley, Isaac, Badanna Dee, Geno. 7 in total with 5 yet to be unveiled.
New Echoes (Yellow): Daisy, Dixie Kong, Chrom, Isabelle, Dark Samus, Shadow. 6 in total with 5 yet to be unveiled.

I think this satisfies the "I hope you aren't expecting too many new fighters" requirement while still putting fan favourites in the forefront of the base game.

I based the newcomers on mii outfits post-ballot and the general popularity of each character. Here on Smash Boards, specifically, K. Rool, Ashley, Isaac, Bandanna Dee, and Geno's threads have the most replies of non-deconfirmed characters in that order. I also took into account Japanese polling (as inaccurate as it may be). K. Rool is the fan favourite worldwide now that Ridley is finally in Smash. Isaac is not massively popular in Japan, being essentially the polar opposite of Bandanna Dee in that regard; their respective levels of popularity flipping in Japan and the West. Ashley is a breakout character that has been at the forefront of a lot of Nintendo's marketing the last couple years, most recently with her very large roles in both Badge Arcade and even more recently WarioWare Gold. Her Assist Trophy, something that caused a lot of people to be upset last time around, is also nowhere to be seen. Geno is the character with the most staying power of them all, being associated with Smash speculation in both Japan and the West. This, coupled with Sakurai's own statements, the Mii costume, and Square-Enix's participation from the very beginning of production leads me to believe he will be in as well.

The Echo Fighters all seem like no-brainers. I don't believe Diddy Kong's jab being changed to remove his tail is a coincidence: Dixie Kong will be, in all likelihood, Diddy's Echo Fighter. Robin's Final Smash not being shown leads me to believe Chrom will be playable. If Nintendo loves one thing, it's FE:A and like it or not he's the most important character from Awakening that isn't playable. Why an Echo Fighter? Because Sakurai has joked that Chrom is basically a clone of Ike. I don't really agree with this at all, but in a world where we've been given an introduction on the concept of "Echo Fighters," it would be kind of bizarre to not include several. Chrom seems like a no-brainer for a safe Echo Fighter. Isabelle is like Ashley on steroids. Where Ashley has seen a huge explosion of popularity in Japan, Isabelle is probably the most famous Nintendo character introduced post-2010 on both sides of the world. Animal Crossing Pocket Camp is currently making Nintendo a metric crapload of money and throwing her in to advertise not only that but a future console Animal Crossing game is a really, really safe bet. Dark Samus's Assist Trophy has not been seen, nor does Samus appear to have any Dark Samus alt costume. Dark Samus is another one of those characters that seems like a really safe bet for padding out the "Echo Fighters," and also throwing the West another bone in the form of more Metroid in Smash. Shadow is a really weird one. Obviously his Assist Trophy has been replaced with Knuckles, but the only reason I put him on here is a very strong suspicion that he'll be playable. I don't even especially want him to be, it's just a powerful intuition I have about these sorts of things.

I think this is probably the most realistic fanservice-heavy roster we could get. There would be very few people legitimately disappointed by this, and it lets the DLC venture into the realm of the more obscure.

 

[Espio264]

Here's my shot. This all seems realistic but lofty. I'm sure Sakurai is going to completely dumbfound us all once again with how it really shapes out.

Bomberman was my most wanted, and who I voted for in the ballot. Takamaru seemed like a pretty safe bet too. That all didn't pan out.

I like some leaks, and others seem plausible though untrue. This feels good, but my expectations are lower. Hope you like it.

EDIT:
Update 8/14

 

[SvartWolf]

uhmmm, assuming we are getting only 5 new newcomers and 4 more echoes... (frankly im putting way too much echoes, but they are indeed great for filling space)

66-Simon Belmont.
67-KingKrool.
68-Ashley.
69-Rythm Heaven Character.
70-Dillon.

Echoes:
e:Samus)-Sylux.
e:Shiek)-Impa.
e:Ike)-Chrom.
e:Sonic)-Either Tails or Shadow works here.

Honorary Mentions: Elma, Captain Toad, 7th gen pokemon, Isaac, Geno, ShovelKnight.

First Wave DLC (2019/2020)

71- ExAT) Waluigi
72- Switch Rep) BOTW Champion.
73- Switch Rep) Arms fighter.
74- Switch Rep) Xenoblade Chronicles 2 rep/Fire emblem switch rep.
75- Third Party Star) Solaire of Astoria, (or darksouls rep)
76- Third Party Star) Crash Bandicot

Second Wave DLC (2021/2022)

77- ExAT) Lyndis
78- Switch Rep) 8th gen poke?
79- Swicth Rep) ??
80- Switch Rep) ??
81- ExAT Third Party Star) Bomberman
82- Third Party Star) ??

Reasonings:
Simon: this game megaman,the first part of the leak was real so there is a decent chance the second part also is, Thankfully Castlevania netflix series have given certain relevancy to the series again, and NES and SNES minis success have also given the franchise (Specially Simon's games) a lot of visibility.

Donkey Kong Country is still a healthy important franchise that ahven't got a lot in smash so a DKC Newcomer would help the roster, It certainly helps that a lot of people thinks likewise and have 2 of the more popular smash candidates. King k rool would be here uniquely for popularity sake although Dixie is still an option.

Little witches are kinda big on japan, so honestly is no wonder why Ashley became so insanely popular, to the point of even competing with wario regarding popularity on the wario ware games. While DKC rep, Simon Belmont and Ridley caters more to the western fanbase I think that at least one popular star from japan is going to make the cut (Inklings doesn't count, since Inklings was the only 100% shoe in in the game by a plethora of reasons)

That being said, outside of Inklings and Castlevania, there isnt much new franchises out there, With super popular picks such as Ridley, Krool, Ashley, Snake and Wolf are already in, the last 2 slots were used to represent 2 other series. Rythm heaven certainly is a big contender, although exactly WHO should do teh job still can be in the air, im pretty sure all of the supporters will be happy with someone representing the quirkiness of its minigames and a rythm based moveset would make almost everyone happy.

As for Dillon, honestly this would be more akin to a left field pick, since is certainly a character lots of people are sleeping on, and would be somewhat a surprise. a couple of interviews seems to be suggesting that nintendo would wish that this guys was doing more noise (i blame its newer game being into a console fading into obscurity) and being in smash, and a switch rerelease of some of its game certainly would boost its popularity. That being said, this is by far the less likely character in this list though... but somewhere you need to take risks

Honorary Mentions: well all of this were left out since I ran out of space on the 70 character roster, certainly lots of this guys would make great characters and would be prime candidates if we get more newcomers in the base roster. but for now im playing it safe. The more priority one in this list is the 7th gen pokemon, but with 8th gen on teh horizon, you never really know. Sadly, with the exception of shovelknight, all of this characters chances seem to be now or never.

Echoes:
Sylux: yeah. yeah, dark samus... I love Dark samus, and I love MP2 but i still think that she would be awkward as an echo. a luigified clone or a semiclone would work way better, but the question is.. is she worth it? on teh other hand Sylux would work well as an echo, not only he have been playable, but he also have played by the same rules that samus played on that game (MPHunters) meaning that by design, he moves similar to samus and does the kind of stuff that samus does. teh only differences it would need to ahve is replacing neutral B Charge beam with Shock Coil, and giving some different properties to his down b mines and he is set. Sylux main problem is that his fanbase is.... well, a tad small. But if he is going to have a prime role in mp4 , he could very well be liek Roy, a kinda last minute extra in order to promote an upcoming game.

Impa and chrom: two characters with decently big but not massive fanbases that could work as character's echoes. Not saying that impa or chrom cant have original movesets, but they seem to be in the daisy train, not big or important enough for unique movesets (you need to be RidleyBIG for that ), but still big enough and can work as an echo. and as daisy, would make a lot of people happy.

Tails and shadow: both important, both with fanbases (albeit, completely opposite fanbases) and both could work as sonic echo with a couple of different animations and stats (shadow less traction and acceleration, tails less speed but a signature double jump).

DLC:
I think that upgrading AT's to playable fighters is a pipedream of a lot of people, and waluigi certainly would help the Dlc season to start with the right foot, plus honestly waluigi doesn't have to be mad interesting, he only need to be sightly awkward and defensive, which means that you can use that free design time into designing the more complex DLC. upgrading a very popular AT into aplayable fighter is a great way to start a DLC season, and is very fan pleasing.

BOTW Champion: Either Urbosa or Mipha. BOTW was insanely popular, kinda made ripples in gaming and helped cimented the switch as a strong contender, although we already have BOTW link, i do kinda wish for a little more . honestly there is a lot of potential moveset and this 2 are the more popular (although Revali comes close, but we already have a blue cocky bird XD), as for the champions dillema you can easily put them on the champions Final Smash, and maybe give the titular champions some of they special skills or assistances. Honestly, this one is more a personal pick.

ARMS Fighter, assuming that Nintendo is still invested in arms by that time. moveset potential, made some noise on teh switch, too new for base roster.

XB Chronicles 2 / Fire emblem Houses : when this character works begin, FE houses will likely be out and we could know if it was a super hit, or just a good game, or a flop, XBC2 did nice, albeit sightly niche, both of them have characters with potential fun movesets, both of them are switch tied titles, etc...

Solaire: Another personal pick, i hope that by that time in teh future, DS 1 remasterd would have released.... (like... pretty please ._.) and been a hit on the switch. That being said, Dark Souls, Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest are IMO the only japanese titans third party left that arent in smash (mayyybe kingdom hearts?) but as my pick, i go with Darksouls

Crash: seems that Crash is doing pretty well, and at that stage there would be plenty of time to gauge how impactful was his revival, this dlc spot would be used by a western Third party star, in contrast with the japanese one up there, and i feel that Crash will be a strong contender for this spot. Rayman, Steve and maybe Banjo Kazooie could also be contenders for this spot.

With the second DLC wave i see the cementing the Swicth side of the roster, although the only possible contender i can predict so far in teh future is an 8th gen pokemon. that probably would have enough screen time to gain popularity. likely the other spots would be for games that we still don't know nothing about.

As for Lyndis, i think that this dlc wave may also have more niche yet super popular newcomers, thats why this may be bomberman time to shine as a third party star. this in part as im predicting that some of the Ridley, Krool, Snake, Simon Belmont, Ashley and Waluigi support will bleed to these characters, making them super popular for newcomers. although obviously, thsi is pure speculation.... as, like 99% of this posts anyways XD.

EDIT: just realized that i totally forgot Bandana Waddle Dee was a thing XD. just put him on honorary mentions, and if he is not a fighter on base roster, more than likely will be in as an AT, which will make him eligible for our ExAT promotion program...
SECOND EDIT: I also think that Isabelle chances are rather high.... although i don't know if im 100% convinced for her as an echo. maybe for second wave DLC after Animal Crossing Switch is released?

THIRD EDIT:

Dark Samus : Same body as Samus, has enough different moves

And thats exactly why i don't think that Dark Samus as an echo would work too well... Has enough different moves is actually detrimental to an echo status, where they want to be as similar as posible. and thats why i Insist that Dark Samus could work as either luigidfied clone (Pichu) or Semiclone (Wolf) instead of Echo (Dark Pit).

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

welp i think i finally offically have a guess

not necessary revealed in this order

Green = unique newcomers

Red = semi-echo/luigified newcomers

Yellow = echo fighters

Purple = other possiblties

rytheme heaven girl is just a place holder for a rhythm heaven rep

Reasoning coming soon.

 

[7NATOR]

This is not a final Guess, I could change my opinion like that

Blue: Confired Veterans

Green: Confirmed Newcomers (including echoes)

Red: My Guesses at Unique Newcomers

Yellow: My Guesses at Echoes



Reasoning:

Echoes: I Really hope Dixie and Dark Samus aren't echo characters. hopefully there is a semi-echo route they can take, but anyway I just have a feeling they are gonna get shafted. Chrom I feel though is getting in as echo because his Ike alt is gone, he is a popular character (he probably was requested In ballot, probably enough to get mii costume), has been compared to be similar to Ike, yep.

K.Rool: Lots of fan demand and one of the few, if only character that I've seen people say is missing from the roster, if he didn't get in i'd be surprised

Ashley: Apprantly Japan's Ridley. No AT Showing. is a Witch. yep

Elma: apprantly Sakurai likes Xenoblade. also, he was shown with a mech. I don't know, just guessed Elma

Ayumi: just a guess, there might be somewhat of a chance of no retro character, but yep

Geno: I feel if Sakurai is not content with Geno staying as just a Gunner mii Costume, he's getting in since Sakurai has shown some interest in Geno

Heihachi: Prefer Kazuya, but if any Namco franchise were to get a rep, it be Tekken, and the Tekken rep is most likely Heihachi. Was considered for smash 4 but Sakurai didn't know how to make Heihachi work in the Smash engine at the time. Maybe now that Sakurai has more time with this game...

Simon: Last of the Captain N Squad not in the game. Has had good relationship with Nintendo. Has that Whip. and all these reasons don't take into account the rumors

Shadow: Lots of people Say he would be an echo if he got in, but I Don't See Sega allowing Shadow to be a CARBON COPY of Sonic with TWO Spindashes and a Spring. the Concept of someone that can control Space and Time, along with his other Chaos abilities like Chaos Blast and Chaos Spear and Chaos boost, I feel is too much of a concept for Sakurai to pass up.

 

[MrBill0327]

 

[Vintage Creep]

Base roster:

1. Inkling
2. Daisy
3. Ridley
4. King K. Rool, complete new character, a tank of course, big as Bowser at least, maybe even a little bit bigger
5. Dixie Kong, Diddy's echo
6. Simon Belmont
7. Rayman
8. Elma
9. Shadow, Sonic's echo
10. Impa, Sheik's echo
11. Chorus Kids
12. Banjo-Kazooie

DLC:

13. New Pokémon rep, possibly from the 8th generation
14. New F-Zero rep, possibly from a new game, Falcon's echo
15. Paper Mario
16. Rex & Pyra
17. An ARMS character, possibly Spring Man / Ribbon Girl
18. Doomguy
19. Steve from Minecraft
20. Crash Bandicoot

 

[Gouloudrouioul]

Okay here's what I think is the most realistic roster we could wish :

https://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2018/30/4/1532622525-ultimate-roster.png

So Sakurai said there wouldn't be too many new character. In my roster, there is 9 newcomers (excluding echoes, which aren't considered characters according to the official site, and exluding the already known newcomers).

(sorry for bad english)

- Paper Mario (one of the biggest nintendo franchise which isn't represented in smash yet)
- King K Rool (big character, well known, and a villain for a big nintendo franchise)
- Decidueye (because this is the most logical choice for an eighth gen pokemon, which there will be I'M SURE)
- Isaac (okay I'll admit this one may not make the cut, it's been too long there was a new Golden Sun. Buuuut his potential moveset could be really interesting, and it's an other well known nintendo franchise which isn't represented)
- Chorus Kids (because it would be the most obvious choice for an unexpected old game representative, and it would fit really well with some leaks)
- Spring man (because Arms would benefit a lot from a little publicity in smash, and this is a new nintendo franchise, and the moveset would be great)
- Simon Belmont (because of all the leaks, and because it would be kind of logical)
- Steve (I know this one is a bit unexpected, and controversial, but hey, this is one of the biggest indi game ever created, known by a large majority, and is for me one of the most obvious choice for a tier character. Plus his moveset would be awesome)
- Rayman (His presence of every nintendo console, and Mario kingdom battles, makes it obvious for me)

Even if they aren't in the base roster, there will be in DLCs, I'm sooooo confident for all of this characters.

And the echoes :

- Isabelle
- Dixxie
- Dark Samus
- Shadow

PS : halp, how do i put the image in my post ?

 

[Cabbagehead]

Current Roster Prediction (As Of 9/3/18)​

I decided to dedicate this post solely to my most current prediction roster. So, without further ado, let us discuss!

Blue boxes are returning fighters and green boxes are newcomers. Eighty character slots, and eighty-four characters altogether. The part of me that has to be overly organized really appreciates the ability for this roster to be divided evenly by the numbers 2, 4, 5, and 8. Normally, I wouldn't care about something that menial, but with the confirmation of Smashdown, it makes sense that the total number of available characters could be divvied up like that.

Allow me to explain my reasoning for each character:

Inkling/Daisy/Ridley/Simon/Richter/Chrom/Dark Samus/King K. Rool - I don't need to explain anything.

Impa - One of the most reoccurring Zelda characters, a popular choice for a new Zelda newcomer, and the ideal choice for an Echo Fighter of Sheik.

Black Knight - An ideal Ike Echo and the most recognizable villain from the core Fire Emblem series. Sakurai seems to have a fixation on the character, and understandably so, considering he's basically the Middle Earth equivalent of Darth Vader. If none of that sells you on Black Knight, his cameo in the background of Castle Siege has been replaced by a generic red knight, so...

Dixie Kong - Now that King K. Rool is in Smash, Dixie is the reigning champion of DK character speculation, and one of the last few true Nintendo All-Stars left. Considering her similarities to Diddy, and her potential to mirror (most) of his moveset, she would be an easy Echo in the same vein as Chrom, who borrows much of Roy's moveset but brings a few of his own moves to the table.

Shadow - An iconic and popular Sonic character whose debut role was as a gameplay clone of Sonic. And I'm sure I don't need to tell you about the Assist Trophy thing, but it is pretty suspect, you must admit.

Isabelle - Animal Crossing's mascot, and one of the few Nintendo All-Stars left. She's gotten around since her debut in New Leaf (AC's best-selling installment), and has certainly made a name for herself. She could easily borrow from Villager's moveset, which already does a pretty good job of representing Animal Crossing, while mixing in her own innocent personality and secretarial flair to better display the character's personality. Like Shadow, her Assist Trophy is also missing, which is eyebrow-raising.

Ken - With a game that is emphasizing clone characters like never before, what sort of twisted world would we be living in if the original clone character wasn't paid his dues?

Skull Kid - An incredibly popular Zelda character from (arguably) the most popular era of Zelda games, a new villain, and the only non-Triforce Zelda characters with anything of a shot at making the base roster as a unique newcomer. I don't necessarily buy into all the chair stuff, but his Assist Trophy being replaced by the Moon got me thinking...

A New Pokemon - While I maintain the stance that this Pokemon will be from the seventh generation, I have no earthly idea who it could possibly be. I'm hoping and praying for an Ultra Beast - namely Pheromosa or Necrozma - but I suppose Decidueye or Incineroar are just as likely.

Bandanna Dee - The tippy-top of the most-wanted pantheon in Japan, and a significantly-desired character in the West, as well. His moveset writes itself, and Kirby is overdue for a new character.

Isaac - One of those "now or never" characters that could heavily benefit from the "I'm finally going to put long-time fan-favorites in the game" trend that Ultimate is focusing on. Isaac has been a significantly sought after newcomer since the pre-Brawl days, and presumably did pretty well on the Ballot. How fortunate that this game is so fanservice-y, since that is literally the only reason Isaac would become playable, coming from a dead franchise, and all.

Geno - As I've said before, Geno is an interesting character who is owned by a third-party, despite being a Mario character to the general populace. Despite being a one-off side character from 20+ years ago, he represents the classic relationship between Nintendo and Square, as well as the birthplace of Paper Mario (and, to a lesser extent, the Mario & Luigi series). He is also a long sought after fan-favorite who seems to have found some level of favor from Sakurai.

Like my original edit of this post, I won't predict DLC until 1) it's announced, and 2) we get an idea of what to expect from it.

 

[EricTheGamerman]

I'll start off my post by saying I think after everything that has been revealed, we'll only see 5-6 unique newcomers possibly revealed from here on out. I could be wrong, but I'm taking Sakurai on his word for this one, and it does make sense considering the number of additions from Smash 4. I'm also not convinced we will have a ton of Echo fighters, but I did include a few with each roster makeup.

I've decided to do three rosters with explanations for the characters. The first being the super safe, "relevant" roster with Echo fighter focus. The second is my reasonable, more personal roster with my preferences and the fan service taken as the basis for the newcomers. The final one is my crazy, dream roster for Smash Ultimate that just has no chance for all intensive purposes unless the DLC goes in a very specific direction.

A couple of points I do want to address. I decided not to include any characters that have already been deconfirmed thanks to assist trophies, stage hazards, etc. I've included new Echo fighters on all three rosters more so because I expect we'll get more than because I have any interest in them personally. I'd be perfectly happy just keeping the three we have. Finally, only the first two rosters will I address the newcomers I've chosen. If a character appears on both, I'll only address them on the first if you're looking for my explanation on the second.

Spoiler: The Safe Guess and Emphasis on Echoes

[

This first roster shouldn't take too much explaining. I decided to make a roster based almost solely upon the "relevant" characters. This was designed to be my safe, reasonable roster with an emphasis on Echo fighters due to time constraints.

Ashley - A popular and breakout character in Japan, with growing popularity abroad. We've yet to see WarioWare get any representation outside of Wario himself and stages, so she could be a big pick in helping grow another series properly into Smash. She is one of my most wanted, but again, she has been seeing a large increase in popularity and notability in recent years. We could always use more mage characters too.

Captain Toad - One of the few breakout stars from the past few years for Nintendo, and Toad has no playable presence in Smash yet. He's the front-runner for relevant Mario pick

King K. Rool - My one exception to the "relevancy" rule of this roster. His sheer popularity among the Smash community, seemingly winning the ballot if fan polls are to be believed, made me include him as I feel he is a fundamentally safe pick despite not appearing recently. He is also still the major villain of the DK franchise, which is still active despite his missing the past two DK games (And really, those are the only DK games he has missed as he continued to show up through the Paon era of DK games).

Decidueye - Pokemon has always gotten a new rep per game, and I particularly like Decidueye in addition to him being a fairly popular pick, so I chose him. I think his archer based origins also give him a unique move set to work from. He also acts as incredibly recent representation for Pokemon Sun and Moon.

Bandanna Dee - Another popular character that continues to be relevant as a new staple of the Kirby franchise. Including him is a win-win as he is both heavily requested and relevant character, one of the few to enjoy such a status. Move set potential is his only real issue he might run into, and that's just a weak reason to not support him.

Elma - Xenoblade has continued to maintain popularity and has a good chance to get a new rep in the game. I think Rex and Pyrha are too far removed from the project plan to be in the base game, and the only other notable figure is Elma then. As the defacto protagonist of Xenoblade X, she makes sense as an inclusion.

Retro Rep (Gyromite) - Could be anyone from a WTF character to another Retro rep. Sakurai can't resist including someone special each game.

Simon Belmont - If the leak has any real credit, Simon Belmont is already in. He also just makes sense as another character super important to classic Nintendo as Castlevania is a NES icon as far as most gamers are concerned. This spot could also just be a generic third party rep spot for other characters if need be, but I only really see us gettin gone.

That does it for unique newcomers, and you could easily remove a couple of these (Retro and Third Party characters are far from guaranteed in my mind at this point) to get down to my 5-6 estimate of newcomers.

Echo Fighters:

I don't think I need to really explain any of these. These are the most popularly discussed and relevant Echo fighter choices. You could easily cut a couple of them though to keep roster size even smaller if need be. Dixie Kong pains me to put as an Echo fighters, but there is also a chance she gets in as such. I don't really have any particular preference towards the others being Echo fighters or not.

Spoiler: My Reasonable Personal Roster of Fan Service

I already covered Ashley, King K. Rool, Bandanna Dee, and Simon Belmont in the above post, so I'll just the list the different newcomers here. That said, if they made it on to this roster, I definitely want them in Smash as well. Decidueye just barely misses this list due to the fact I couldn't make the roster look uniform with his inclusion, but he gets an honorable mention alongside Chibi-Robo.

Geno - He continues to be a staple of the Smash Bros community with a high number of requests. He has a Mii costume that acknowledges his existence in Smash 4, Sakurai wants him in, and Square-Enix is on board for Smash Ultimate. The stars seem to be aligning for his inclusion. He's a fan pick and I want him in, so he makes this roster.

Dixie Kong (Semi-Clone or Unique) - I mentioned before Dixie Kong as an Echo would be disappointing. I want her to have a move set that more focuses on the usage of her hair for a move set, like with her throws and Up-B at the very least. She deserves a more full role in the game, and I hope she gets in. She's reasonable as a newcomer with popularity and even the treasured relevancy.

Ayumi Tachibana - Again, this is more of a retro pick spot overall as I want one, but specifically I want Ayumi as the retro fighter just because I'd love to see what kind of crazy and weird move set Sakurai could come up with for her. I think a retro or WTF pick is still likely, so I think that falls under the reasonable category. You could honestly substitute Lip here as well given her growing popularity and support.

Isaac - Another big face from the ballot and the Smash Bros community at large. He's been a popular pick since Brawl, with many expecting him to follow Little Mac in upgrading to a full playable character. He has a ton of potential using the different Djinn for his moves, and I would really like to see him finally make the roster, as would many other fans.

That puts us at 8 additional newcomers again, which is a bit many I'll admit for my expectations, so I could see us getting a couple of these cut as well (To my displeasure and several others I imagine). I don't see it as super unreasonable either though, as that would only be 10 total unique newcomers.

Echo Fighters: Mostly just included Dark Samus and Isabelle as I like the characters, and really don't see them showing up as completely unique fighters. I do expect at least another Echo reveal, so I went with personal choices on those.

Spoiler: My Crazy Ideal Roster

Everyone has to have one right? I just included the Echo fighters in Yellow boxes for this roster cause I did it earlier. Just happens to be basically every character I could every want for Smash at this point. Never going to happen, but it was fun to put together. Three new retro reps did surprise me when I started thinking of who all I wanted. If we push the Echo fighters to their own thing like I did with the other rosters, then just add Saki from Sin and Punishment, Ray from Custom Robo, Impa from the Zelda series, and Captain Toad to finish off this roster.

 

[volbound1700]

Take a stab here. Bottom row away from group is DLC:

 

[nuclearneo577]

This list is a weird combination of me playing things safe with who gets in (so nobody who I really want but see being unlikely like Andy or Dillon) and assuming that the roster may end up being pretty large, taking into account that they *may* be using Echo Fighters to expand the roster in a similar fashion to Melee.

Spoiler: Confirmed characters

King K. Rool: Like Ridley, he's been a highly requested Nintendo villain for years from a franchise whose main character has been in Smash since Smash 64, and apparently they renewed the copyright for him in 2015 when the roster was likely finalized. Also, he had a Mii costume. He's one who I've personally wanted despite not having ever played DKC or DK64. Confirmed, sweet.

Dark Samus: I'm in the camp of people who think that her assist trophy not being shown yet and Samus' alt based on Dark Samus being gone means something, cliche I know. I have no problem with this. Called it like a lot of other people.

Chrom: Main character of the game that gave Fire Emblem new life, is still very popular despite Robin making it into 4 instead of him, and we have yet to see Robin's final smash, and he had a Mii costume. He would make an easy Ike clone too. This is the only choice who I am opposed to because I'm sick of Fire Emblem overkill, but it makes a ton of sense to me so I'm not going to try and deny that. Another easy guess that turned out to be correct. Guess Project X Zone 2 isn't gonna be the only game where he crosses paths with Ryu.

Simon Belmont: First off, I trust Vergeben, and expect Simon to be announced along with those two new Castlevania games in October near the time of the second season of the Netflix series, since Konami regretted not having a new game around the time that season 1 aired. But aside from that, Konami being involved at all with Snake and Bomberman being in the game shot Simon up to being a very likely newcomer anyway, since he has way more history with Nintendo then Snake. As a major Castlevania nerd, I want Simon in the most out of any newcomers. Bring it on. Wrong about the date, but holy crap am I happy about this. I assumed that he would steal some moves from Richter Belmont and thus would have him as an alt costume, but I didn't expect Richter to be an Echo Fighter. This is amazing, thank you Sakurai.

Spoiler: New Nintendo characters

Skull Kid: At first I dismissed how iconic he is since the other Zelda characters are in all or most of the games, but his assist trophy is not only missing, but has a replacement from the same game (the Moon from Majora's Mask, which is an amazing choice) and a new item to replicate the effect of it (the Ramblin' Evil Mushroom from Earthbound), and Majora's Mark itself was a Mii headgear, and there was the background from the last direct that seems to be hinting at him, like how the E3 direct was hinting at King K. Rool, so there's a few things pointing to him. Also, while loz18 isn't super reliable, he has had some correct information in the past and said that he knows that Skull Kid is in the game, so that is something that helps his case. I'm not really a Zelda fan, but I do know that a lot of people really like Majora's Mask, so I'd be cool with him.

Bandana Waddle Dee: Being the 4th main character of Masahiro Sakurai's first baby really helps your chances, and him being missing from the arena in King Dedede's final smash is a bit strange, Also, that one guy (I apologize for forgetting his name) who said that Daisy was going to be playable in SSBU because of how her amiibo was coded did say that Bandana Waddle Dee's amiibo is coded the same way, which is something that I personally think is a legit leak. So memoryman clarified that his info about Daisy doesn't actually mean that he thinks that Bandana Waddle Dee's amiibo gives anything away, but I still think he has a good chance. I can't complain about a spear user getting in.

Incineroar: Welp, Verg has struck again and said that the new Gen 7 Pokemon is in fact not Decidueye, Lycanroc, or Mimikyu (now confirmed to be a Pokeball summon). I'm going with Incineroar since I've heard that Game Freak promoted him under the assumption that he would be more popular then Decidueye. This seems like a good choice regardless.

Elma: I know nothing about Xenoblade, except that it's popular enough to have a second character from one of the sequels, and everybody is saying that Elma is the most likely choice. Also, if I may bandwagon again, Bill Trinen's comment about Xenoblade "characters" seems pretty suspicious, and her VA said something that sounded like she was dodging a question if she was in Smash a bit ago too, so there's something pointing to her specifically. I have no real opinion on this since I know nothing about Xeno anything.

Isaac: Initially I thought that he was entirely forgotten since his assist trophy was removed in Sm4sh and didn't even get a regular trophy (although there were two pieces of music in the game), which I found to be rather sad despite having never played any Golden Sun games. But that one tweet that Sakurai sent out with Lucina, Link and Shulk fighting Rathalos at the camera angle of the battles from those games and the one Golden Sun theme being removed from the Metroid stages changed my mind pretty quickly. It's time for Isaac's triumphant return, and since I've heard the game been compared to Chrono Trigger in terms of quality, so I would be really exited if he gets into the game.

Karate Joe: Rhythm Heaven is a pretty big franchise and WarioWare's sister series, and Joe specifically was referenced in the King K. Rool trailer, so I this seems like another logical choice to me. I'm indifferent since I don't really care about Rhythm Heaven very much, but he hardly seems like a bad choice so I'd be fine with him.

Geno: (Yes I know he's owned by Square, but his only proper game appearance is in Super Mario RPG so he's pretty much a Mario character) Sakurai has wanted to use him for years, he got a Mii costume after Cloud was added to 4, and Bowser's video has a remix of his fight theme from Super Mario RPG, so it seems like Geno may finally get his turn in Smash. Verg has also spoken about how there is a new Square Enix character, then quoted a post that mentions Geno and said that it's "the one you know about", so there really isn't anyone who he could be talking about. I need to finish SMRPG some time, but I do remember him being awesome, so I'm very excited for him having a very good chance of getting in.

Spoiler: Echo Fighters

Dixie Kong for Diddy Kong: Part of the forbidden 7 whose return would make sense, and Diddy Kong's tail attack from the end of his neutral attack being changed is highly suspicious. Since she was supposed to fight with Diddy in the style of the Ice Climbers in Brawl, her being an Echo Fighter makes sense, but I can see her being a semi clone. I'd be totally cool with somebody who was previously cut finally getting in.

Impa for Sheik: I was a little bit unsure about this one at first, but Dark Samus and Chrom being casually dropped in the middle of the August direct makes me expect the number of new Echo Fighters to be on the higher end. Sheik is extremely popular because of how powerful she is in Melee and Sm4sh, and this would actually be really interesting for competitive play if Sheik is still high tier, then we'd have another Melee situation similar to Fox/Falco with there being a high tier clone. I like this idea despite not playing as Sheik much.

Ninten for Ness: Cloning somebody who already has a semi-clone seems a bit overkill, but the first installment in the Mother trilogy getting a representative makes a ton of sense, especially now that there's an official international release of the first game. I'd be cool with it.

The Black Knight for Ike: Even if the person in the background of Castle Siege wasn't him specifically, it was somebody who looked a lot like him, and changing it seems really weird and completely necessary. And since Chrom is an Echo of Roy, adding an Echo of Ike who is a massively popular villain from Fire Emblem seems like a good decision to get another playable villain in the game. I think that this is a good idea, only because he's a villain.

Isabelle for Villager: Assist trophy is gone, she had a Mii costume, Animal Crossing is a massive franchise that only has one character, she's been a very popular character for a while now, and Vergeben said that she's in, so this one is a closed case for me. While she could be a unique fighter, Villager already has an improvised moveset that takes from a lot of elements of the series, so making another moveset for a series that's very calm and involves no fighting normally seems a bit hard. Verg said that she's in the game too and that she is mot likely and Echo, but for this case that seemed extremely likely before he said anything regardless. I'm friends with several people who like Animal Crossing a lot so I'd be happy.

Shadow for Sonic: His assist trophy being seemingly replaced with Knuckles after being in Brawl and Sm4sh is rather odd, and he hasn't been shown in the background of Green Hill Zone where Knuckles used to be, so I think that he's playable this time. Shadow has the exact same psychical build as Sonic, and since Chrom has shown that not all Echo Fighters have 1 for 1 movesets, changing his up special and one or two of the spin attacks doesn't seem too far out of the question to me. I'm not a big Sonic fan but I'd be fine with it.

Ken for Ryu: The original fighting game clone, not including him would be a missed opportunity. It's also worth noting that downloading Ryu for 4 gives you a Ken trophy, so this may have been planned ahead of time. Verg also said that he's in the game. This is the Echo who I want the most, Ken is my favorite Street Fighter character (original, I know), and I'd love to be able to use him for the fire Shoryuken alone.

Spoiler: New third party characters

Akuma: An easy choice to add a playable villain as a semi-clone of a series veteran, and because of how much they've been on fighting games as a whole, I can see there being multiple shotoclones from Street Fighter. This one is entirely hunch based, but it would have some logic behind it. I'd totally be a fan of this, even though I would probably play as Ken more.

Heihachi Mishima: Sakurai wanted to use him for the Namco character in 4 before deciding to go with Pac-Man instead (which was a smart move), and he got a Mii costume. Since they have Ryu who uses Street Fighter mechanics, adding somebody from Tekken with Tekken mechanics makes a lot of sense (after all, rage is from Tekken 6). While I'm not that big of a fan of Heihachi personally, having somebody from Tekken would be a good idea, and I would love the irony of someone from PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale being in Smash.

Lloyd Irving: Tales of is a big Namco franchise, Tales of Symphonia was released on the Gamecube first, and he had a Mii costume in Sm4sh. I'm really indifferent on this one, it just makes logical sense to me since Namco is developing the game, and they'd probably want multiple characters since Capcom and Sega got two each in Sm4sh.

Shantae: The ultimate slumber party thing in her newest game seems like a rather specific reference, and WayForward has been acting rather odd on Twitter lately. Chances are that if anybody was chosen to be the indie rep in the playable roster, it's her since Shovel Knight isn't playable. While I'm not a fan of Shantae myself, I do really want to see an American indie character be playable since that would be massive.

Rayman: Nintendo and Ubisoft are very friendly right now, and I always assumed that his trophy model in 4 was something that Ubisoft cooked up in an attempt to get him into the roster, which happened way too late. Ubisoft has also provided Nintendo consoles with a lot more third party support then many other companies in the past decade, so they've more then earned getting somebody into Smash. I think that he could make a nice newcomer, despite knowing nothing about his games myself.

As a bonus since I have too much free time, here's a section of popular guesses who I either think won't make the cut/who I'm unsure about.

Spoiler: Who I think WON'T make it

A new Yoshi character: Yoshi has fallen from the prominence that he once had in Smash from being one of the original 8, he wasn't even confirmed to be in Sm4sh till nearly 10 months after the original E3 trailer. (Yes this was most likely because of the reworking of him, but Pit replacing him in the first trailer is really telling.) I just don't see anybody being important or popular enough to make the cut as being playable, if we get lucky Kamek might be a boss in Spirits mode and Poochy might be an assist trophy, but neither of them really fits he bill to be playable. Birdo isn't officially a Yoshi character, but if she gets in I will count her as one and admit that I was wrong.

Paper Mario: He could work, but Paper Mario as a series has kind of died off (I literally did not know that there was a Wii U game till a minute ago, and afaik everybody hated Sticker Star), and adding another version of Mario seems a bit out there, despite him easily being able to be a totally different character. There's only three versions of Link because Brawl and 4 replaced Young Link with Toon Link, if it wasn't for everyone is here, there would be two Links and two Marios.

Anybody from ARMS: ARMS is too new, could work for DLC. This is all that I will say on this manner.

Octolings with equipment from Splatoon 2: These guys take the cake for the most recent highly request character, I mean they're a no-brainer for DLC, but the first trailer for the Octo Expansion was literally in the same direct as the first trailer for SSBU. I just don't see them being in the base game.

Dillon: As much as I would like this, given that his creators said that him being in Smash would be nice, it's likely that he's been overlooked again.

Banjo & Kazooie/Minecraft Steve: Phil Spencer being a big Nintendo fan and the Minecraft crossplay make Banjo a likely candidate for DLC, but the Minecraft thing was very recent, so I don't see anybody from a Microsoft game being in the base roster. I'd love to be wrong about this (even though I don't want playable Steve since Minecraft's graphics would look weird next to the rest of the cast), but there's still DLC to come in the future.

Crash and Spyro: At the time of the roster being finalized, Crash had been MIA for years and Spyro was stuck in Skylanders hell. They both (I will not be happy unless both of them make it into the game, preferably at the same time) have a really good chance of being DLC because of their recent resurgences, the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy being on the Switch, and the fact that Bowser and Donkey Kong were in Skylanders: SuperChargers. But for the time being, we'll have to wait.

Sans: Undertale was released in English for PC around the same time of SSBU's roster being finalized, so I have severe doubts that anybody on the dev team even knew about it, unless somebody really high up was a big Homestuck. Regardless of Sans being a good idea or not, it's just a pure logistical impossibility.

Spoiler: The graveyard

Ashley: WarioWare's breakout character who Nintendo loves and promotes a lot, had an assist trophy in 4 that we haven't seen yet and had a Mii costume as well. I'm honestly a bit surprised that they haven't announced her already alongside WarioWare Gold, but maybe timing new character announcements with game releases was a Sm4sh thing. Welp, I was wrong. I'm the most disappointed and surprised about this one but oh well.

Shovel Knight: The optimal indie choice given how much inspiration his game takes from popular NES games, also he is the first non-Nintendo character who isn't in SSB4 to get his own amiibo. I still need to get Shovel Knight, but getting anybody from an indie game would be a great idea in my book. Also wrong, but him being an assist trophy is nice.

Zero: As much as I like Mega Man, I just don't see that getting another character. Zero has more then enough of a moveset to work with since he's been in several fighting games, and he did have a Mii costume, but I just have a gut feeling that he won't make it. I would love to be wrong about this though. My gut feeling was right, I am very glad to see him as an assist trophy though.

8/4/18 edit: Verg strikes again, rip Decidueye, hello Incineroar.
8/4/18 edit 2: Added a section of who I think won't make the cut.
8/8/18 edit: Updated based on the 8/8/18 direct.
8/23/18 edit: I reconsidered a few things and took a couple of other possible leaks in mind.
9/5/18 edit: Late minute change before the September Direct to remove something that was debunked.

 

[epicgordan]

In the base roster, I decided to go for 79 playable fighters plus 12 DLC. My choices in newcomers will be based entirely around the 32 video game franchises with a representative fighter present already. And based on some of the details in the Smash Direct, if I were to remove the Mii Fighters from the equation, the roster would be perfectly divisible by 4 each and every time.

I chose Geno and Skull Kid first in order to mirror what we had seen in today's Direct. A Third party direct with a ton of fan support, followed up by a villain character.

The final two characters, I felt were characters that would simply be revealed in a Direct without much afterthought to it. Like Bandana Dee or Necrozma. I went with Necrozma over Incineroar because while Incineroar appears to be the popular choice to represent Gen 7 (thanks Verg), I think Necrozma would make more sense in regards to Sakurai, and could also potentially fill in a villainous niche.

And finally, my DLC fighters. I put in a ton of thought and effort into my choices. I decided, ultimately, that if there were any cut content, basing on the Vergeben leak, it may lead directly towards Steve. Then I threw in a bunch of late Nintendo properties as well as a Fire Emblem rep for the next game. Then I threw in a ton of 3rd Party characters based on overall hype and demand, including providing Namco Bandai with a two additional reps, and then providing us with Sora, Rayman, Banjo & Kazooie, and Crash Bandicoot--who, btw, are all highly requested fighters. I then threw a random Pokémon rep in there to represent Gen 8. Honestly, I probably could have put it in there right between Lloyd and Sora.

 

[Good Guy Giygas]

I always enjoy looking at other people's predictions, so I thought I'd share the one I've been working on. This isn't my "dream roster;" this is more or less what I think the base roster will look like based on the information I have seen so far (SSB4 poll, other fan polls/forums, topics, supposed leaks, etc.)

I have designated the echo fighters in yellow and the newcomers in red, with a total of 14 new additions. That brings the grand total to 75 characters altogether. I honestly feel like this is too many newcomers to expect this time around, but I wanted my roster to look even and nice so that's why it's a bit bloated. I have a feeling some characters such as Geno, Isaac, and a few others could possibly be very likely DLC candidates instead if they don't appear on the base roster.

Anyways, on my roster there are 10 completely new characters (including Ridley and Inkling) and 4 echo fighters (including Daisy). I think the remaining newcomers will be Ashley, King K. Rool, Decidueye (or any other Pokemon, but he seems to be the most likely from my research), Bandana Dee, Excitebiker (Not sure there will be a retro rep this time, but I feel like Excitebiker or Mach Rider are the most plausible as they've been considered before), Isaac, Simon Belmont (could also qualify as a retro rep), and Geno. I think this gives a nice mix of fighter from various franchises without any one being more favored over another, while also catering towards a lot of the fan favorites.

As for the 3 other echoes whom I believe are yet to be revealed, they are Dark Samus, Isabelle, and Ninten. These make the most sense to me to pad out the roster. I've seen other ones like Shadow and Octoling being highly talked about too, but they seem more likely to be DLC to me.

Concerning DLC, these are any characters I don't see being on the base roster due to either being third party, their game not being announced at the time of Ultimate's development (Spring Man, Rex), or just not having as much demand as others. Here they are:

They new characters are Spring Man, Geno, Isaac (if these two don't appear in the base game), Rex & Pyra, Impa (or possibly another Zelda rep instead, like Skull Kid), Chrom (or another Fire Emblem character), Shadow, Banjo & Kazooie, Crash, and Octoling. It's worth noting that Chrom, Shadow and Octoling are all echo fighters. I think that if they made DLC echoes, they would have to be pretty highly requested/popular characters to justify people shelling out money for a character without an original moveset. The same goes for the likes of Geno, Banjo, and Crash. Since they are third party characters, Nintendo needs to obtain the rights to use them and therefore could make them DLC to do so.

 

[SquashiniKun]

Since i don't have access to Roster Maker at the moment, i'm just going to type my roster.

Spoiler: Unique Newcomers (10)

Inkling
Ridley
Simon
K. Rool
Elma
Nihilego
Chorus Kids
Ayumi Tachibana
Heihachi
Geno

Spoiler: Echo Fighters (8)

Daisy
Chrom
Dark Samus
Richter
Isabelle
Ninten
Galatica Knight
Shadow

 

[Chase]

Another direct, another one of these! Now with echo toggle!

Newcomers (8):

• Inkling (Splatoon)
• Ridley (Metroid)
• Simon Belmont (Castlevania)
• King K. Rool (Donkey Kong)
• Geno (Mario)
• Skull Kid (The Legend of Zelda)
• Bandana Dee (Kirby)
• Incineroar (Pokémon)

Echo Fighters (10):

• Daisy (Mario) -
  
• Dixie Kong (Donkey Kong) -
  
• Dark Samus (Metroid) -
• Dark Pit (Kid Icarus) -
• Lucina (Fire Emblem) -
• Chrom (Fire Emblem) -
• Isabelle (Animal Crossing) -
• Ken (Street Fighter) -
• Richter Belmont (Castlevania) -
  
• Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic) -

We'll see how close this is to the launch roster...RIP Ashley.

 

[Smashsonic64]

This is my roster after the August 8th Smash Direct. Some are most likely, while others don't. Here you go.

Confirmed Veterans:
EVERYONE!!!

Confirmed Newcomers:
Inkling (Splatoon)
Daisy* (Super Mario)
Ridley (Metroid)
Simon Belmont (Castlevania)
Richter Belmont (Castlevania)
Chrom (Fire Emblem)
Dark Samus (Metroid)
King K Rool (Donkey Kong Country)

Dream Newcomers:
Octoling (Splatoon)
Bandana Dee (Kirby)
Rex & Pyra (Xenoblade Chronicles)
Spring Man (ARMS)
Rayman (Rayman)
Crash (Crash Bandicoot)
Shantae (Shantae)
Ruby Rose (RWBY)
Weiss Schnee (RWBY)
Blake Belladonna (RWBY)
Yang Xiao Long (RWBY)

 

[bilbo1993]

My list (struggling to upload my image but I'll just type it anyway)

Newcomers:
Inklings (confirmed)
Ridley (Confirmed)
SImon (Confirmed)
K.Rool (Confirmed)
Decidueye (85% confident)
Bandana Dee (65% confident)
Geno (55% confident)
Elma (50% confident)
Isaac (30% confident)

Echos:
Daisy (confirmed)
Dark Samus (Confirmed)
Chrom (Confirmed)
Richter (Confirmed)
Shadow (80% confident)
Isabelle (80% confidence in game, 50/50 if full fighter or echo)
Ken (75% confident)
Impa (40% confident)

My darkhorses: (Those who would surprise me if are announced but not impossible)
Dixie - feel she lost her chance in the K.Rool announcement
Medusa - feel she is a sakurai move, particularly if heaps of other villains were added
Octoling - came into things too late in development, possible dlc
Sora - Nice to see, latest smash editions being more liberal with 3rd parties improves his chances
Banjo - should be in the series already. Not holding my breath
Minecraft Steve - Just seems possible
Incineroar - Most likely 7th gen pokemon outside of decidueye
Crash - Very iconic character not yet represented
Rex and Pyra - Seem like the obvious DLC candidates.
Monster Hunter - Possible after the recent MH representation shown off.

We know what sakurai is like though. Richter came from nowhere so I expect that my list shown probably wont cover half of the remaining reveals. This list brings it to 92 if ALL show up (including echos). I expect the real amount to be at about 82 and only 3 each from my echos and full characters to make it

 

[Rie Sonomura]

Here's my mostly finalized dream roster post-8/8 direct:

gonna post huge wall of text of reasoning in a spoiler box shortly, it's thundering and I'm only on the computer to attach this image

Slight spacing rearrangements courtesy of KMDP ’s suggestion

Spoiler: explanations (LONG)

- Impa is a Sheik echo; 16e
- unique newcomers after K. Rool: Bandana Dee, Elma, Isabelle (assuming Vergeben and Loz’s sources only report unique characters as they didn’t know about Daisy, Chrom, Dark Samus or Richter), Chorus Kids, Buzzwole (can interchange with Incineroar if you want), Isaac (ballot helped him, a la K. Rool), KOS-MOS (Bandai Namco Rep 2, can interchange with Heihachi if you want), Rayman (can interchange with Crash)
- DLC wave 1: Switch Stars. Twintelle (can interchange with any other ARMS rep if you want), Rex and Pyra, Octoling (Inkling echo), Addam and Mythra (Rex and Pyra echo)
- DLC wave 2: Girl Power. Dixie Kong (Diddy Kong echo who still uses her ponytail), Shantae (Indie rep), Fiora (Elma echo; notes on her later), Mio Amakura (Koei Tecmo Rep sorta, since Fatal Frame is now property of Nintendo also. Can interchange with any other FF rep)
- DLC wave 3: From Another World. Neku (Square Enix Rep 2), Shadow (Sonic echo; Sega Rep 3), Lloyd Irving (Bandai Namco Rep 3), Dante (Capcom Rep 3)
- DLC wave 4: Mirror Images. Black Shadow (Captain Falcon echo), Celica (Robin echo), Malos (Shulk echo), Zack (Cloud echo, Square Enix Rep 3)

- yes, there is a bit of Xenoblade bias, but Sakurai is a fan of the series himself, so
- for Fiora: yes I’m aware she’s in Shulk’s Final Smash. However, Samus is also in Zero Suit’s Final Smash, and if that Monster Hunter stage boss is also an Assist Trophy, why not Fiora be the first FS cameo to also be playable? Alternatively they could just I guess patch her out of the final smash. Assuming she’s not also an AT or appears in Shulk’s victory animations. Also, instead of dual guns, Fiora would use her drones.
- Mio’s spot originally belonged to Lip. However, since Lip’s fanbase is mostly in Japan and she has no mainstream exposure elsewhere, I decided to switch her out for Mio. Plus, I would LOVE survival horror game representation you have no idea
- the “big five” third parties get 3 reps each (Konami, Bamco, Squeenix, Capcom, Sega). Lesser third parties (Indies, KT, whichever studio is in charge of Crash, Ubisoft) get only one.
- since Shovel Knight, Shantae’s ballot competitor for indies, is an AT, I figure Shantae may have a chance. WayForward themselves want her in, after all.
- I admit I chose KOS-MOS as Bamco Rep 2 cause I wanted to see the Project X Zone 2 reunion of Chrom, Lucina, Fiora and KOS-MOS
- Isaac COULD be the “retro” rep this time?? I consider early GBA retro don’t @ me
- not seen, but made three scrapped considerations into ATs: 2B (NieR Automata), Geno (yeah sorry guys, I have a feeling Squeenix will be stingier with Geno than Neku or Zack. But hey, Mewtwo, Ridley and K. Rool are playable now! ... ), Phantom Joker/Ren Amamiya (Persona 5, at least we’ll get Last Surprise as a song!)
- other ATs: Isa Jo (replaces Saki. Can’t think of a move set for him), Haseo from .hack G.U., Poochy from Yoshi’s Wooly World, Funky Kong, Doc Louis, Lin Lee Koo
- other scrapped considerations: Phoenix Wright, Yuri Lowell (Lloyd has priority if the Mii Costumes theory is something to go by. At least I hope we get the Vesperia battle themes and Ring a Bell in)
- I want Bamco and Capcom to have all unique newcomers. Hence, no Ms. Pac-Man, T-elos, Ken or Proto Man (who’s also in Mega Man’s FS). And since they showed off the MonHun stage but no fighter, I would THINK they’d reveal a fighter and stage at the same time, even if the MonHun character was unlockable, but that’s not the case here. Also, Dante is insanely popular and had several appearances on Nintendo systems (albeit in crossovers) and there’s always the chance Devil May Cry 5 might come to Switch.

 

[TriMaxTime]

Okay, here’s my go.

I am convinced (95%) that Geno & Shadow are playable. The only reason I could see Shadow as not playable is if he is a boss in an adventure mode. But here’s my predictions. (Numbers might be arbitrary)

68. Karate Joe (or Chorus Kids)
69. Geno
70. Decidueye
71. Elma
72. Isaac
73. Heihachi
74. Bandana Waddle Dee
75. Mike Jones

10e. Ninten
36e. Dixie Kong
38e. Shadow
43e. Isabelle

Potential DLC characters:
76. Spring Man
76e. Ribbon Girl
77. Rex & Pyra
78. Slime
79. Crash Bandicoot
80. New Smash Ballot choice (Waluigi?)

Besides these characters, my dark horse hopes are Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright, Paper Mario, Banjo-Kazooie, or Quote.