First Party:
10. Isaac (Golden Sun) - I'm not familiar with the franchise, but it's been around for a while and it had a DS game released within recent memory. He seems like he'd be a unique character who would be fun to play as.
9. Mike Jones (Star Tropics) - while he's a bit of a long shot given that Star Tropics was never released in Japan (for crying out loud, it didn't even get a sticker in Brawl!), it would be neat if the development team pulled a reverse-Marth and introduced a new character to the Japanese audience.
8. Sukapon (Joy Mech Fight) - I didn't really know anything about the character until looking into a now-dormant SSB fangame, but Sakurai seems to be all about bringing back retro characters, and he's from Nintendo's first fighting game.
7. Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles) - I'm not very far into Xenoblade Chronicles, and if I was, he might be higher on the list. Still, the series is new, popular enough to get a sequel on the Wii U, and Operation Rainfall seems like it would indicate to Nintendo that the franchise is important enough that people want it imported (even if it didn't influence their decision to do so). Besides, with the Monado, Shulk seems like he'd be an interesting fighter with a varied moveset.
6. Krystal (Star Fox) - honestly, I'm surprised that she wasn't in Brawl. Her staff from Star Fox Adventures seems like it would give her a more unique moveset than other Star Fox characters (while I know that Wolf and Falco aren't, strictly speaking, clones, we really don't need three Landmaster final smashes). I don't know if Star Fox is major enough to get four characters, but I'd still like to see her included.
5. Medusa (Kid Icarus) - while I know that there are villains in Kid Icarus Uprising who play a larger role than her, and I know that the series is named after Palutena in Japan so she'd likely take priority, I figure that Medusa has more going for her than what most people suspect. She's Pit's most recurring enemy, her boss fight in Kid Icarus Uprising gives her a lot to work with, and her giant disembodied cyclops head just screams "final smash". While I haven't played Kid Icarus Uprising (I've only seen videos up to chapter 11 or 12), I'd like to see Medusa playable in the next Smash Bros.
4. Ridley (Metroid) - Metroid's been in Smash Bros. since day one, and unlike Yoshi (which overlaps significantly with the Mario series) and F-Zero (where Captain Falcon had a strange enough moveset to begin with), I can see no reason why it doesn't have a second playable character yet. Ridley's basically the Metroid equivalent of Ganondorf - he's consistently played a major role in almost every game in the franchise, and he refuses to stay dead. While I've seen people suggesting Dark Samus or one of the bounty hunters from other games, none of them hold a candle to Ridley in terms of star power or moveset potential. I could go on for quite a while if I needed to, but the point is that Ridley basically needs to be in Smash Bros.
3. King K. Rool (Donkey Kong Country) - while I'll admit that Dixie seems more likely, given her playable appearance in the upcoming Donkey Kong Country game, K. Rool interests me more. There just seems to be a lot more to work with, between his boss battles in Donkey Kong Country 1-3, DK64, and any spin-offs that he might have appeared in. In addition, (in case you haven't noticed a pattern in the past couple of entries) I feel that Smash Bros. could use more villainous characters. The only outright villains in the game so far are Bowser and Ganondorf (Wolf and Mewtwo are probably the closest thing to antagonists that you can get for their series, but they seem to be anti-heroes, seeing as Wolf is allied with the Star Fox team in two of his three appearances, and Mewtwo, like any Pokemon, is open entirely to interpretation as far as morality is concerned), and that really should change.
2. Saki Amiyama (Sin & Punishment) - either him or his son Isa would work. The franchise received a massive boost in popularity with the Virtual Console release of the Nintendo 64 game, to the point where a sequel was released for the Wii and Nintendo even released it in countries outside of Japan despite the fact that the original was Japanese-exclusive. Just looking at his assist trophy in Brawl, you can tell that he'd make a great playable character. Honestly, I'm not sure what else to say - he just seems like he'd fit in.
1. Little Mac (Punch-Out) - this one's a no-brainer. Between Punch-Out getting a Wii instalment since the time of Brawl's release, the boxing ring stage, and the series' general popularity despite not having a game between the SNES and the Wii, I'd be more surprised if he didn't make it into the game. While a boxer may seem a bit ordinary for Smash Bros., they've made the concept work in other fighting games (for example, Dudley and Balrog in Street Fighter - there's probably also a Tekken example, which would be more fitting since Namco's working on the game, but I'm not familiar enough with the series to be able to think of one), so I know they can make him interesting to play as.
Third Party:
I'll just do a top five - partially to save space, and partially because I can't think of many third-party companies that I'd want to see in. I'll stick with one character per company, so nobody from Konami, Capcom, or Sega (assuming that Snake makes it back in).
5. Terra Branford (Final Fantasy VI) - while a Square Enix representative could be something more generic (like Black Mage), a character who's more popular but doesn't have much to do with Nintendo (like Cloud or Lightning), or a Dragon Quest character (like Slime), I went with Terra Branford because she is the protagonist of the last numbered Final Fantasy that originated on a Nintendo system. As much as I'd like to see Geno again, I'd think that Square would go with a character from one of its own series instead of a Mario character that they (for whatever reason) own. While she's not as iconic as Cloud, her game still holds a special place in the hearts of many long-time Nintendo fans, and between her natural magical abilities and swordplay, she'd bring a lot to the table as far as a moveset is concerned. I know she's not horribly likely, but I'd still like to see her in.
4. Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia) - Pac-Man is, by a massive margin, more likely. Let's not kid ourselves. However, Lloyd seems (to me at least) like he'd be more fun to play as. His attacks in Tales of Symphonia already seem to correspond to A and B moves in Smash Bros. (heck, that game's control scheme is basically set up like Smash Bros. if it were an RPG), and the "Tales of" franchise already has a fighting game in the vein of Smash Bros., called Tales of Versus. It helps that Namco staff have mentioned in interviews that they'd like to see Lloyd in SSB (much like Capcom staff with Mega Man), and I haven't seen anything similar for Pac-Man. While it's in no way any indication that he'll make it in, Sakurai seems to want third-party companies to come to him instead of the other way around if the other third-party characters are any indication, and the fact that people within Namco are pushing for Lloyd seems to help him.
3. Bayonetta (Bayonetta) - this one may be blurring the lines a bit, but it seems to me that Bayonetta is a Platinum Games character instead of a Sega character. No Platinum characters have appeared in games like Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, while Bayonetta has made playable cameos in Anarchy Reigns and the Wonderful 101, both Platinum-made games (with Sega having nothing to do with the latter). I've played as her in Anarchy Reigns, and they managed to tone the character down enough (no total nudity, guns aren't used as projectile weapons) that she could theoretically work in Smash Bros. Platinum's games are exhilarating combo-heavy spectacles, and I'd like to see some of that brought to Smash Bros.
2. Rayman (Rayman) - if you've played Rayman Origins or Rayman Legends, those games basically give an entire A-moveset to Rayman, along with some B-moves thrown in there. Rayman Legends, unlike in the rest of the world, is a Nintendo-exclusive game in Japan, which seems like it would help make this more likely (since Japan seems to be Sakurai's main or only focus when it comes to making this game), and this series has produced some of the best platformers in years. I find that characters from 2D platformers tend to translate incredibly well into the Smash Bros. style of gameplay, and I can't see Rayman being an exception to that.
1. Travis Touchdown (No More Heroes) - admittedly, this was much more likely several years ago, around the time that No More Heroes 2 was released - since then, the series has gone AWOL. However, Suda 51 was given Special Thanks in Brawl's credits, he's expressed interest in having Travis in Smash Bros. (and if you think that doesn't mean anything, see my point under Lloyd Irving), and the franchise was designed from the ground up with the Wii in mind. While it's really obscure (it sold enough to get a sequel released, but neither game sold spectacularly well), the series is a mixture of quirky goofiness and insane action that seems perfect for Smash Bros. While the series hasn't been heard from in a while, including Travis in Smash Bros. seems like it would show that Nintendo has games for a rather diverse audience, and it would show that they support smaller developers as well as major companies like Sega or Capcom. It's a colossal long shot, even more so than Bayonetta, but regardless, Travis is the third party character that I'd want to see the most in Super Smash Bros.
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