But All-Star mode has always worked in that it shows a preview of EVERYONE you fight in the next round. It's a mechanic ripped directly from Kirby games, and is done so the player knows what they are up against, and can decide whether or not using a limited health restore is worth it. I don't see any reason why this would change to suddenly accommodate more characters than are previewed, since it's flat out sensible and fair game design.
My problem with this image is Samus' placement. We know they are probably grouping these characters chronologically, and in fives. However, more than 5 characters have debuted in some single years, but they also seem to be putting characters from the same franchise and debut year, together.
So my problem is - if Ridley were in the game, why not put someone like R.O.B with Peach, Bowser, Link, and Zelda, then in the next fight, put Samus, Ridley, Pit, Palutena, and whatever other standalone character together?
What I'm getting from this screenshot is that Samus is being used here because she is a stand alone character in this time period as far as playable characters go, so they used her to fill out that fifth slot as the odd one out. Peach and Bowser, and Link and Zelda, are playable characters that debuted as pairs from the same franchises, in this one time period, so they threw them together, and then threw Samus in as a stand alone to balance things out - as no other playable characters from her series debuted in this time period.
There is likely a second "1985-1986" battle for Pit and Palutena and all the other relevant characters. My issue is though, why isn't Samus grouped with Ridley, assuming he's playable, when it would be so easy to do without ruining the running theme of the mode, by moving them into that second battle?
And furthermore, why let this into the trailer if it caused any easily analysed problems like this? The Ganondorf thing was harder to see as it occupied a tiny part of the screen for a split second and it's clear they took stock footage of Pikachu and didn't realise the circle with Ganondorf would be noticeable, but this is something I spotted casually and made me concerned in that moment, for reasons I stated above. And it occupies an entire panel, not just a spec of it that can be attributed to a simple oversight.