Why Ike, Pokemon Trainer, and Diddy Kong were announced before Snake

[Phantom7]

On Smash Bros.com, they've announced several newcomers:
Pit
Wario
Zero Suit Samus
Ike
Pokemon Trainer
Diddy Kong
Meta Knight
Snake

Everyone knew about Pit, Wario, Zero Suit Samus, Meta Knight, and Snake before the daily updates on Smash Bros Dojo, so we expected them to be announced before any other newcomers. But why have Diddy Kong, Ike, and Pokemon Trainer been announced before Meta Knight and Snake? I thought of a few possibilities:

1 You might start out with the first few newcomers announced on Smash Bros Dojo. (Ex: Start with Pit, Wario, Ike, Pokemon Trainer, and Diddy Kong and unlock Meta Knight and Snake. I excluded Zero Suit Samus because she's part of Samus)

2 Ike, Pokemon Trainer, and Diddy Kong might replace 3 characters on Melee. (Would that mean Dr. Mario, Pichu, and Roy will be taken out?)

So what is the reason they were already announced?

 

[Bassoonist]

Well we know that Snake will be unlockable, and Sakurai had reasons for delaying Meta Knight's update. (he said so in the update.)

It seems to me that there is no reason other then those mentioned above, though.

 

[Big-Cat]

Did you ever consider that they're starters and that they're not replacing anyone in particular.

 

[Kirby knight]

Simple. Sakurai felt like announcing Ike, PT, and Diddy Kong before Snake.

-Knight

 

[Phantom7]

Well we know that Snake will be unlockable, and Sakurai had reasons for delaying Meta Knight's update. (he said so in the update.)

It seems to me that there is no reason other then those mentioned above, though.

Sakurai never said you would unlock Snake.

 

[Lupo Aro]

Sakurai never said you would unlock Snake.

Yeah he did. And not just Snake, all 3rd Party characters.

 

[Knyaguy]

Because ike, pt,dk own!!!

 

[MyBurden]

You guys have to stop reading to much into things, it could of just been random choices or something.

 

[pure_awesome]

Or maybe, he announced the others first because he was completely redoing Snake's model. Heck, maybe he was redoing MK's, too.

 

[Zevox]

Sakurai never said you would unlock Snake.

Yes, he did - in his journal he stated that all "guest" (3rd-party) characters, including Snake, would be unlockable, as that was most appropriate for guests. I can show you the translation archive that was on NSider (here), but it'll be disappearing soon - not sure where else those translations may have been posted.

Anyway, I'd note that announcing them helped hype fans - as you noted, they were the first newcomers revealed since the first trailer, so fans were a little starved for that kind of info. Beyond that, I suspect your first point is correct - they are probably starters, and Sakurai would surely want to reveal starters before unlockables. We don't know Meta Knights status in that, so we can only speculate as to if he was withheld due to being unlockable, but we know Snake is unlockable, so its pretty reasonable to guess thats why he was waited for.

Zevox

 

[Chickenboy666]

Simple. Sakurai felt like announcing Ike, PT, and Diddy Kong before Snake.

-Knight

I agree...

 

[PrettyGoodYear]

I swear, if you knew Sakurai in real life he'd be so tired of you eventually...

"OMG why did Sakurai just sneeze?"

"Why do you think he is sleeping on his left side?"

"Sakurai went to KFC?!? I wonder what this means for Brawl"

Must you really scrutinize and pick apart everything he does?

 

[GaryCXJk]

 

[freeman123]

Phantom7
1 You might start out with the first few newcomers announced on Smash Bros Dojo. (Ex: Start with Pit, Wario, Ike, Pokemon Trainer, and Diddy Kong and unlock Meta Knight and Snake. I excluded Zero Suit Samus because she's part of Samus)

I guess that's possible. That would mean Ice Climbers are hidden too though, since they were shown after Meta Knight.

I still think that when they start showing hidden characters we'll know for sure, and everyone we've seen so far is a starting character.

2 Ike, Pokemon Trainer, and Diddy Kong might replace 3 characters on Melee. (Would that mean Dr. Mario, Pichu, and Roy will be taken out?)

That makes no sense at all.

 

[Meta_Sonic64]

Maybe, he's showing them in order by popularity?

 

[cba]

I swear, if you knew Sakurai in real life he'd be so tired of you eventually...

"OMG why did Sakurai just sneeze?"

"Why do you think he is sleeping on his left side?"

"Sakurai went to KFC?!? I wonder what this means for Brawl"

Must you really scrutinize and pick apart everything he does?

LOL XD

-"what is he doing? oh did he just throw dung at me? what does this means for brawl?"
LOL

 

[Shuma]

If he was going to announce them by Popularity, Dedede would have been announced already, or Ridley either as a boss or a PC.

 

[Meta_Sonic64]

Or maybe he was announcing by how shocking or unexpected it would be.

 

[Space_Pirate_Fox_McCloud]

He's just sharing us the characters in the same way he gives us any update, which is simply in the order he feels like putting it (to which doesn't follow any pattern or formula). It's his site, let's just let him go with whatever order, or lack there of, he wishes and enjoy what he does share with us.