Surprised by a lot of people loosing hope.
If he isn't a playable character, he will be an AT or have a stage based off of CTTT. Character, AT, or Stage all would fit and his game is big. They aren't going to leave him out in all forms.
To be fair, I'm pretty sure we'll get something of him. I'd rather it NOT be an AT, as Assist Trophies rarely get promoted, and we're mostly here because we
want a playable Toad character be it regular or Captain. A stage would be pretty fun however.
Kind of been a bit of a hard life being a Toad fan in terms of Smash speculation:
Smash 64
"This game is awesome. It's got 4 of the Mario Kart crew in it! Maybe one day Toad will join alongside Peach, Bowser and Wario..."
Melee:
"Okay, so now they got Bowser and Peach in, that's all the major Mario characters right outside Toad and Wario? And hey, look, they got a Toad running in the background! They made a unique model for him...oh wait, it's an animated Peach counter...well okay, at least it proves it can be done!
I even heard Toad's a secret character. Some rumour going around about the credits...hope this means good things"
Brawl:
"Okay, well, we all knew Wario would probably also outprioritise Toad due to having his own game series. That's...I guess that's fair? And hey; Toad's done well on that poll! Toad is literally the next biggest character in the Mario series left now...oh, I guess Bowser Jr is being heavily promoted though...oh no..."
Sm4sh:
"...Toad's one of the first deconfirmed characters, and just as he finally started getting playable roles in the main series again. ROSALINA GOT IN OVER HIM?!? But she's the secret character from 3D World, and he's a default one...this is bull..."
Sm4sh DLC period:
"...okay so our boy is a counter, and Bowser Jr is now in alongside Rosalina and...fricking Dr. Mario returning...but hey everyone from the actual Nintendo newcomers were somewhat recent characters, and the detractors have now shut up since Captain Toad has given Toad both an identity, his own game, and a role. The game's even sold really well considering it's been on the worst selling console to date! And look, Toad may have done well in the ballot since the Miis have been given an outfit to fight in...things are looking good for the next game!""
Ultimate period:
"Okay guys this is it; Captain Toad Treasure Tracker is recent, pretty successful game of which he is the protagonist, he's a recognisable face, it's fair to believe he did decently on the poll due to how famous Toad is in general, he got a Mii outfit(Hell if K. Rool and Geno fans can count it, why not?) and there's literally no bigger Mario character in his way at this point. He's got to have a good shot...."
Sakurai: "The focus of this game is veterans. Also Daisy is in, and you shouldn't expect too many newcomers this time round. But hey; Toad no longer acts like he's a hostage. ENJOY."
"...****."
So now Captain Toad holds the only chance we have to get in and despite his impressive resume that would have gotten him in the door for literally any other Smash game before(being recent and a protagonist of a successful spinoff), we're now dealing with limited newcomers, Sakurai's been stated on record that he wants Geno as a playable character and if this is his last game, he's likely to promote Geno above Captain Toad, and as for Mario spinoff characters; WarioWare's Ashley looks like she's also a big frontrunner.
At least Toad's being treated with a modicum of respect after nearly 17 years in Peach's moveset. And I guess there's always the possibility of the Mii outfit returning. I SUPPOSE we shouldn't grumble, but still none of these are what we've desired for nearly 20 years.