I figured one of the reasons he was lucky was because remember Nintendo information at E3 has been leaked before and it has happen multiple times (Remember when Star Fox U was leaked). So I figured Sal got his info straight from those sources
Also outside of
and CM, there were really same and predictable guesses
:New Leaf was big and while Sakurai stated he didn't want to make Villiager fight, things change in six years
:Next Level's reboot and sales gave him a chance was highest request character from the West
:You have to be blind not to see there was gonna be new Pokemon rep and it was gonna be Gen5/6 either way
:The same guy who made Uprising is working on Smash 4. You thought it was gonna be Hades? Nope went with the second most important KI character after Pit
:Sakurai wanted Miis in Brawl but didn't know how to implement them. And Nintendo loves shoehorning these guys everywhere
:Fairly popular in Japan who thanks to Operation Rainfall gave Xenoblade a chance in the West and sold well for its limited copies. Shulk had a major chance
Chrom:Every Smash, they put in the latest new lord but since Ike was back and Sakurai wanted an Awakening rep, he went the best option,
and he just thought about Chrom he was never considered on that list.
/
:no matter how much people say Capcom hates Megaman, he's still not shoved away that well and after Snake and Sonic, who do you think we're gonna go with? As for Pac-Man, you should have seen this coming YEARS ago. Right when Nintendo announced Namco-Bandai was helping.
Safe to say, these 'leaks' were same guesses that anyone could have made.