Werner Herzog
Smash Cadet
Yeah, whether or not any rumors come true, I've been on the "DLC is inevitable" train for a long time now, especially now given Fire Emblem/NSMB 2/Pikmin 3/Sonic Lost World (with its Yoshi & Zelda levels)/Mario Golf/Mario Kart 8/Hyrule Warriors. Nintendo has been dipping their toes in the water for a long time, and now we're in the trenches.Snip
Personally, I love that it's happening. I'll never understand the perspective many seem to have - that paid DLC is inherently an evil practice. It's a wonderful idea at its core, it's just an easy tactic to abuse. Fortunately Nintendo has been very smart and generous with it for the most part, and with a base roster of ~50 characters as it is - and with the next Smash likely several years away - I'm more than willing to pay for extra. Of course free DLC would be nice, but developers have to put food on the table just like the rest of us. Not that you said any of this though, just something general I wanted to get off my chest.
On topic, my prediction (and I'm purely guessing here) is that there will indeed be a few extra characters in the Wii U version, and that they'll come to 3DS as DLC a short while later - maybe a couple months down the line. Let 3DS players pre-order the DLC through an in-game shop and let them know that they could have them right now if they only had a Wii U. With the Wii U selling poorly to the general public, now is the time to get all those millions of Smash-playing 3DS owners on board. That's their most promising expansion base, and what better way to entice them?