When the game was first revealed, I expected the roster to focus on games never repped before and games with recent titles to get repped, while we'll get a retro rep or two. Later, I've realized that the roster was gonna focus on making every newcomer very unique (after seeing Wii Fit Trainer and Villager). So my prediction ended up being realistic but I was surprised at the cuts.
But before the reveal, I expected Mega Man and Pac Man to get in as the third party reps, along with fully expecting Sonic and maybe Snake returning. However, ever since the reveal, I felt Snake would have trouble fitting in since the game had a more cartoony art direction and he honestly did felt like a one-time deal considering he isn't that huge with Nintendo. I expected the roster to generally focus on the same direction Melee and Brawl had (just include new characters from existing franchises with some new franchises.)
However, after the reveal, I expected Palutena, Little Mac (despite him and the others from the leak), Shulk, Miis , Pac Man, Mega Man and a Gen 6 rep were all the characters I've expected. Ones I expected but didn't come were Ridley (DLC?), Ice Climbers (this one shocked me), Mewtwo (although I kind of had a feeling...), Lucas and Wolf (though not too shocked about the latter) and Takamaru. I expected Takamaru to get in as the retro rep, but we ended up getting Duck Hunt instead. (And DH fits both the categories of retro and very unique). Funny and very ironically enough, I actually wanted Duck Hunt over Takamaru for a long time (due to a friend convincing me he would work), but I thought he had no chance at all. ...Funny how that turned out! I also wanted Dr. Mario back but felt he would be back as alt-costume tier at best... and well... lol
Pokemon Trainer's cut surprised me a lot, I should mention that. I felt that he had a good chance to return along with all his Gen 1 Pokemon due to the iconic status and the very unique gimmick. I felt that his Pokemon wouldn't be replaced by the other Gen Pokemon since they don't have that strong representation. However, I'd never thought of the idea they would cut the trainer and just keep (the most iconic one) Charizard. ...It makes sense when you think about it. A bit bummed Squirtle and Ivysaur are gone though, ah well.
), but I really only imagined the adventure mode.
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