Characters I could do without? Let's see:
Dedede
Diddy Kong
Falco
Ice Climbers
Ike
Jigglypuff
King Dedede
Lucario
Lucas
Marth
Meta Knight
Pikmin & Olimar
R.O.B.
Sheik
Wolf
Toon Link
Suffice it to say I'm pretty disappointed with the roster overall. I've never been interested in the Fire Emblem or Pikmin series. I enjoyed Kirby games when I was younger, but I was never particularly enthusiastic about the games' antagonists. I don't think we need Ness and Lucas. Similarly, Fox, Falco, and Wolf is a bit excessive, especially when all three share a final smash. Jigglypuff is well past its prime, and Toon Link is just all kinds of wrong.
When I first started hearing about Brawl, the main thing I was hoping for were new few female characters and new third-party additions to the game. Well, I got Sonic and Snake, but to see lame characters like R.O.B. instead of something truly exciting is very disappointing.
By the way, I'm tired of seeing this poor argument: "R.O.B. was integral to the success of Nintendo; therefore, he should be a playable character." Shigeru Miyamoto was also integral to the success of Nintendo; should he also be a playable character?
I'd say just because you dont like that multitude of characters, doesnt mean they deserved to not be in.
Mainly looking at Diddy Kong, Olimar, and the Kirby antagonists when I say that. Fire Emblem too. I have yet to play a fire emblem game, but I can see why people who have played it love it.
Donkey Kong always needed a second rep (Cmon people, it's truth, DK sold much higher than Metroid overall, so who deserved another rep?) and who better than Diddy?
Olimar represents the most successful new franchise Nintendo has put out, so why should he not be in?
And Kirby was a series who had to live with one character for a while. Meta-knight and Dedede were the second and third most important characters in the series, and would bring uniqueness to Smash, so here they are.
I'd say people, if youre still disapointed in the roster, get off the internet and throw away your Wii, because youre going to have to live with it for a while.
Personally, Im very happy with the roster and feel it's simply perfect. Krystal seemed likely at first, but then, you think about it, and realize Krystal represents the 3 games that were the downfall of the Starfox series. Wolf was introduced in Starfox 64, the series' brightest moment. Wolf > Krystal in this respect.
Geno? Why Geno? He'd be less nostalgic than ROB and a few others to the retro gamers, and even then, very few people will recognize him overall. AND he was much less likely to be a character than the other 2 3rd parties that got in.
Isaac.... I think a battle went on here.. a battle between two new series, Pikmin and Golden Sun. Given that Pikmin was much higher grossing than Golden Sun, and was created by Miyamoto, and would not bring another sword user to the mix (seriously, too many swords is not a good thing) I can see why Pikmin won out.
K. Rool - This one baffles me, and I have no explanation as of yet for why he wasnt included, oh well.
Anyway, this is m reasoning as to why the top 4 "most likely" characters near the end did not make it.
The roster is fine. Live with it people, or you'll be very unhappy for what could be 5-6 years.
And threads like this are magnets for flame-wars.. they shouldnt be here....