Hey I'm no longer pranked, and just in time for me to make this post and show off that I've become a Smash Champion!
Anyway I have a challenge for you.
Think of an iconic 3rd party video game character that could be added in a future Smash game.
You just have to follow these rules.
•No characters from series already in Smash
•No characters that come from non Japanese company's
•No Konami, Microsoft or Sony characters
•No characters we know Sakurai has considered (Heihachi)
•No characters that break Sakurai's rules for 3rd party characters
Go!
Ryu Hayabusa for sure
With Tecmo being as buddy-buddy with Nintendo as it has been lately, I see him being a very strong contender for Smash 5/Smash NX. Of the remaining legendary third parties left, he's one of the few I'd put my money on.
Also some Dragon Quest character. Probably not Slime, because by going with Cloud over Black Mage, Sakurai demonstrated that he'd rather introduce a main protag from just one of the games to represent the series rather than a generic species character that could feasibly rep the entire series. Erdrick is "the" DQ protag ala Cloud right? So then probably him.
A Tales character probably would probably also be on the consideration list. Probably Lloyd after his costume and all. A Soul Calibur character I could see happening as well. Probably Siegfried seeing as he's been the main protag of most of the games. Nightmare is probably in contention with that slot, but with all the third party reps being protags so far, I'd be surprised to get the villain first, then the protag.
Layton... I don't know if I'd say he's iconic quite yet, but of recent third party series, he's absolutely one of the ones to have made the biggest splash. I could feasibly see him in the future.
Capcom has all of Resident Evil, Phoenix Wright, Devil May Cry and Monster Hunter under their belt that fit the bill. But I feel that we'd sooner get another SF character like Chun-Li or M. Bison, or another Megaman character like Protoman or Dr. Wily before we'd get a third Capcom franchise. If Sakurai lessens his stance on realistic guns though (which depending on how you look at it, he may have already done with Bayonetta), Resident Evil would definitely be more of a contender, either through Jill or Leon or Chris (preferably Jill). I think the hardest part of incorporating Resident Evil content would be creating a stage without getting too bloody or graphic, though they managed to do it with Bayonetta.
Also getting into the less realistic and more personal hopes side, Agumon would be amazing and would fit the bill as well. Depending on whether or not virtual pets are counted as video games, Agumon wouldn't break any of the rules of third parties, and the series is definitely still going strong today in Japan and elsewhere, especially with the new anime series and all. And with it having the title of being the original Pokemon rival that spawned innumerable playground fights, finally being able to add Pikachu vs. Agumon to the list of already amazing vs. matches Smash allows would be incredible. His iconicity isn't as strong as other contenders for sure though, and Namco isn't hurting for other options for iconic characters to add with Heihachi, Siegfried, and Lloyd still on the waiting list, plus Digimon's popularity is definitely not at the same level as it once was in the 90's. I still see him as someone that might be discussed though, if nothing else for the vs. potential.
There's also plenty of non-japanese 3rd parties left, but the rules say no non-japanese characters, so that's a post for another day.