Rumors man,RUMORS! No way you are telling my a certain 64 bit bear and his bird are coming to this game!! That would make it unplayabley awesome.(if solid snake stays.)

Oh, how I wish that loveable bear and crazy bird in the backpack were in Smash Bros.

Had Rare stayed with Nintendo- maybe...

_{Microsoft had better get Rare's act together and make a true Bear and Bird game!!}

All the Brawl characters are staying.

And as for my "assumption", I've had talks with a friend who has some friends in the industry. Of course, I can't confirm them as fully true but knowing his background, I'm taking what he's said so far (mostly about Wii U) with mounds of salt.

Lots of things I've heard that we won't hear about until next year, at least.

@Sylverstone: Considering they haven't even done much with the game yet (if anything), I think all rumors are false at this point

Point taken. I see it in this scenario.

Iwata (at E3): We will be making Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS AND Wii U.

Sakurai (at office watching): - Kid Icarus isn't even out yet!

Character-wise I'd like to see Mewtwo, Dr. Mario, Animal Crossing People, Toad, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Ganon with his sword.
and better interwebz play.

Seeing how development hasn't even officially started yet, I think it's safe to assume that all "rumors" are pure fiction at this point. However, I still love making predictions, even if we won't know any real details for at least a year.

The easiest way to add meaningful characters (as in, not random sidekicks and enemies) to the roster would be to include third-party characters, but I personally hope they don't go overboard. One or two characters per company, please. Otherwise it essentially undermines the whole point of the series: a celebration of Nintendo, not Sonic and his pals.

Predictions!

• Somebody from the new Kid Icarus. Sakurai's making Uprising, so this is natural. Either Palutena, Medusa, or that guy with the big sword whose name I forgot.
• Professor Layton/Luke! (Do they count as first, second, or third party?)
• Little Mac! I shouldn't have to explain this.
• Girahim! Or whoever the primary villain of Skyward Sword is. Not a replacement for Ganondorf!
• Miis! Assuming they make the jump to Wii U.
• 5th gen Pokemon! Probably Zoroark, but I would love to see Victini.
• Somebody from The Last Story/Xenoblade/Pandora's Tower? Hey, Nintendo of Japan doesn't hate these games!
• Somebody from Fire Emblem. Micaiah or Eirika, preferably, since they don't use swords.

Third parties!
Capcom! Probably Ryu, considering Mega Man's recent tragedies, but I'm secretly wishing for Phoenix Wright.
Ubisoft! Rayman, especially now that he's on a comeback with Origins.
Namco! Pac-Man? Somebody from the Tales series? Klonoa? I don't really expect any Namco reps.
Indie developers! It would be neat, but incredibly unlikely, to see some indie love. Commander Video (Bit.Trip) or Quote (Cave Story), anyone?
Never gonna happen, but if Travis Touchdown was in Smash Bros, the galaxy would forever be at peace.

Jeez, long post was long. Am I leaving out any obvious choices? I would love a civil discussion on this.

NO!

Snake, with guns. Seriously, if games like Uncharted can have blood, swearing, violence and such and still be rated T, giving Snake a couple handguns that give no visible damage won't make SSB rated M.

_{Make EVA playable! :3}

Just want to say that I'm going to be around this thread, so I'mma bump this thread.

@Mod I made a topic in regards to universal roster that is it's own thread. Can you please merge it with this one is possible?

Anyway, I'm expecting only eight newcomers: Little Mac, Medusa, Ridley, King K. Rool, Takamaru, Isaac/Saki Amamiya, and Victini.

Lucky for you, Victini has a good shot of being playable and I have a good feeling about him getting in.

Meh, the only new characters I REALLY want to see are Zoroark, Deku Link (able to transform into Goron and Zora Link), Prince Fluff, Ridley, and Mega Man.

They should add the RAY 01 from Custom-Robo.

I highly doubt Microsoft or Rare will license out Banjo Kazooie for Smash Bros. Microsoft owns Rare, who owns Banjo Kazooie.

Ray would be awesome for Smash. He has a lot of move set potentials and it would be amazing if he got in.

I think 9-Volt would be a good idea. He could use attacks from old-skool games.

CRASH BANDICOOT. NOW. An hopefully they bring back SS from MGS. Sonic, Meh,

I want these people playable.
Bowser Jr./Shadow Mario
Paper Mario
King K. Rool
Shy/Fly/Spear Guy
9-Volt
Wolf Link transformation
Young Link with masks from Majora's Mask replacing Toon Link.
Vaati
Weavel
Rundas
Dark Samus
That guy with the huge sword in Uprising
Eggplant Wizard
Prince Fluff
Knuckle Joe
Krystal
Ray MK III
Mixed Pokemon Trainer with Piplup, Bayleef, and Blaziken, but only if it replaces the original
Zoroark
Deoxys
Samurai Goroh
Black Shadow
An Elite Beat Agent
Little Mac
Lyn
Poo
Louie
Issac or Matthew because that's my name
(inhales a bunch of breath.)
Grey Fox
Shadow the Hedgehog
Ryu
Chun-Li
Chrono
Magus
Rayman
Rabbid
and finally Mii's.
ok maybe that's too many characters, but I most of them in their.

Am I the only one here who doesn't want to see Zoroark in Smash? I'm really am not all that excited for his inclusion at all.

Goku should be a character his smash ball move could be ssj4 10 times kamehameha wave.

Zoroark is one of my favorite Pokemon. I think think will include him in the next one since he is very similar to Mewtwo and Lucario and he got a movie like they did.

They're not gonna include anime characters. SSB is for Nintendo/video game characters that have a successful history on Nintendo platforms. Goku is neither.