Rumour: Unannounced Characters For Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Have Possibly Been Leaked

Uh oh, this will be a big bomb, and only this is a rumour...

edit: oh well, Even it is a rumour, yes, a rumour, what it hurts me is that Shantae was not there, but at least Issac would already take it into consideration that he deserves it too.

About time we got Issac

Chorus Kids immediately deconfirms this leak for me. I've said it once and I'll say it again, I will literally chew on my Smash Ultimate cartridge if this leak is somehow true.

FYI: Not saying Chorus Kids would make for a bad character, I'm saying it's a very, very, VERY unlikely pick.

Thanks, Grinch

I want to believe....................

You’re a mean one... Mr. Grinch

@JazzyPone Given all the details associated with this leak, I hope you have good teeth

@JazzyPone

I hope they're in, seeing representation from lesser known games like Rhythm Heaven and Mach Rider is great. The last thing we need is yet another humanoid with a sword.

Alright, I have a question for everyone. If you could pick between the two as Ryu's Echo fighter, who would you pick?

Ken or Akuma?

@Dalarrun I would also hope they're in, but I'm still very doubtful.

Sakurai does have that surprise factor though, so...let's just hope they're not revealed until near the release of the game.

@Caryslan Sakura. ;P

Hope it’s true! Geno would be badass!!

@Angelic_Lapras_King - Dan.

Yeah... UH HUH

You wish we were getting 7 new characters LOL

Hmm...

Shadow - Possible echo of Sonic, and his Assist Trophy is still missing. Reasonable.

Banjo-Kazooie - I'm rather bearish on this one (no pun intended). Popular and good moveset potential, but they're owned by Microsoft and I'm somewhat doubtful they got all the licensing details worked out by now. Maybe as DLC.

Isaac - Plausible. He's quite popular (at least on Smash Boards), former Assist Trophy (that hasn't appeared yet), and could serve as a stalking horse for a new Golden Sun game. Main liability is that he's currently irrelevant.

Ken from Street Fighter - Yeah, there's no way he doesn't get in. His music is in the game, he could be an echo of Ryu, Vergeben leaked him already, etc.

Geno - Apparently Sakurai really wanted him in Brawl, but it didn't work out. Popular with the fan base, was a Mii outfit, Vergeben says that a Square Enix newcomer is in. Main liability is (again) irrelevance, being a one hit wonder from 20 years ago. But with the SNES Classic edition giving many younger gamers the chance to play Super Mario RPG for the first time, he might be more recognizable now.

Mach Rider, Chorus Kids - Well, there's always a novelty character that nobody would have seen coming (Jigglypuff in the first game, Mr. Game & Watch in Melee, ROB in Brawl, Duck Hunt dog in 4). Either of these would be a plausible pick.

But what about a new Pokemon? It's an E ticket franchise, it always has at least one newcomer, and Vergeben leaked that one would be in the game (possibly Icineroar). Unless they're really just going to stick to the 150 true Pokemon.

Hmm... I heard another rumor similar to this one only with Rayman and Shantea added in and no Banjo or Issac. I guess we wait and see.

@Angelic_Lapras_King

I second this, Sakura would be cool because she's basically Ryu and I'm all for female representation. I'd love Chun Li too of course, but she couldn't be an echo because she's too different.

I'm a bit disappointed but not surprised that Dillon isn't one of them. We still hadn't seen his assist trophy, and he's gained a bit more popularity lately due to getting a new game.

That said, I'm happy about Geno if it's true, which I was already almost dead certain he's getting in. I mean he was a mii costume before, so Nintendo and Square obviously worked something out, and usually when a character is demanded so much they get in (if they aren't something off the wall like Shrek...)

I’m fairly suspicious on this just due to how blurry the image is which could potentially hide any flaws made by the “leaker”. But, I’ll believe it when one of the characters gets in and matches the pose in the art.

If true, that’s nuts. It’s as if Nintendo is adding everyone people keep asking for...except Waluigi, haha.

I hope Chorus Kids are really in there at least.

It could easily be faked by people who draw like Smashified, making the picture blurry just make it so you can hide flaws in drawing and other stuff.

Also Isaac replaced the spot of Olimar and Pikmin while they got put to another spot, each new characters never switched the spot of confimed characters on the poster by that much space.

The Mii Fighters are also gone and in their place is Shadow.

@SakuraHaruka OMG, I also was hoping for -at least- one of Isaac or Shantae, so if this is true, it would at least give me someone to look forward to!

Banjo and Geno could/will be awesome to play as. Disappointed to hear Dixie may not have made the cut once again, but I got K. Rool so I am a very happy camper.

I believe the picture is blurry because it is a screenshot of a Snapchat video. This would be a dream come true roster, but I'm not holding my breath to avoid disappointment.

@Euler this banjo could be a deal with with nintendo so nintendo gets to release banjo and perfect dark on the n64 mini.
Microsoft could use this as a huge add having a microsoft logo on it.

ALso just saw Mii Fighters are now in the spot of Luigi and Luigi got moved on top of Falco.

Making the photo blurry is a great way to move things around and not have people notice that your style of drawing doesn’t match up with whoever was commissioned to do the concept art used in the drawing.

I’d love for it to be fake, but I also hope it is as there’s no Dixie and I want her!

@The_ghostmen Yeah, that's a possibility. Especially with the N64 mini looking a lot more likely now than it did even a few months ago. But they've been working on Smash Ultimate since early 2016, and apparently the roster is decided rather early on. Would the dev team really have known back then about something like the N64 mini and that Rare would license its games to be made on it (still not necessarily a sure thing)? I just don't see it. Which is why I think Banjo would be more likely as DLC.

I highly doubt this is real. Banjo isn’t making it into Smash. As much as I adore those N64 games, we’re talking about a character owned exclusively by a rival console manufacturer. And as much as Microsoft claims they’d cooperate, Nintendo isn’t going to throw them a bunch of free advertising.

Ok, but where's Layton?

@DavidMac Yeah, Jigglypuff is a completely different spot!

It's really upsetting to me if Geno and Shadow get in over legitimately interesting characters like Hades or Chibi Robo or an ARMS rep.

Is nobody going to question why Mach Rider of all people is there?

@MarinoKadame The characters did move around before as well when K. Rool and the others were added. Diddy moved from above Falco to above Samus. Young Link moved from the right of Mario to the left of Mario. The Mii fighters moved as well.

But to me, Pikachu in front of Cloud's sword is what looks odd. It doesn't make sense spatially

@NovaCam Nobody does because Mr. Sakurai always adds one "retro" character in every new iteration.

I'd take Shantae, or Chun-Li please. Banjo might be plausible, if Nintendo, and Microsoft worked out details early on in development. It's possible, but I doubt it, though. Nintendo would not want to "give" anything to Microsoft. DK64 on WUVC is a slightly different case, because the rom is technically a Nintendo ip, and in a worse-case scenario, Nintendo could modify future releases of the rom to remove Jetpak/Jetpac(sp?).

This is gaining a lot of traction. It may very well be true, and if it is, Smash Ultimate will be the greatest video game of all time.

God I hope this is legit... Banjo in there would just be so perfect (and also means a lot more down the line for the Microsoft / Ninty partnership). N64 Classic would be MUCH better with Blast Corps

@ACK

@ACK bite your tongue! Say what you want about Shadow but Geno represents one of the best games ever made!

I hope it is semi true and that more will be considered. Takamaru, Wart, Crash Bandicoot, Ribbon Girl, Jin Kazama, and Lloyd Irvine would had been nice. This game is developed by Namco and Namco only had one rep (Pac-Man) in the game, we need two more reps for Namco so it would balance with Capcom (Mega Man, Ryu, Ken) and Konami (Solid Snake, Simon Belmont, Richter Belmont) and both Jin Kazama (from Tekken) and Lloyd Irvine (or Yuri Lowell from Tales of Vesperia) would be great additions.

I really feel like there'll be a new Xenoblade character included, though I suppose they might get bumped to DLC. Given how successful XBC2 has been on the Switch, I can't imagine Rex and Pyra / Mythra not showing up at some point.

@JazzyPone Assist trophy?

I don't believe it. See how the character on the art hide others. Their placement are all wrong we are suppose to see everyone and we cant even see olimar or megaman anymore it's weird. As a game artist it seems fake.

That's a lot of new characters for a Wii U port...

/s

I just hope there is skull kid (or someone else to represent the Zelda franchise)....
But I'm iffy on the leak. The chorus kids are cool.... But why not Karate Man? He's a staple in the rhythm heaven games. But hey, I'm just excited to play Isabelle, and Daisy.... 😁

If I had to say if it was real or fake... I'd say real. There is a lot of convincing evidence around this entire thing and the roster makes sense. Plus I really just want to see Banjo and Geno in the roster! But, as always, I'm not taking it as truth until Nintendo announces it.

Geno whould be awesome!

Please be real.

Banjo

@westman98 It's not a Wii U port.

I am looking over this over and over again, if it is fake, its very well done, so many characters have moved around to accommodate the characters.... If Banjo is in this, I will lose my mind !

@Caryslan Ken pretty much was Ryu's Echo Fighter orignally. So probably Ken.
Better than Dark Ryu.

@sanderev
Must have missed the /s

Hoping my being late doesn't shove my comment back into utter irrelevance (on-call employment just won't let me get used to heavy work), here are my thoughts on it all.

Team real or team fake? Either way, we'll find out as soon as prerelease download data is inevitably datamined to hell and back... but, to answer the question, I'm on the fence, slowly leaning on real due to a new trailer's way-beyond-suspicious timing, for reasons given below.

No new Pokémon: courageous choice in either the real or fake scenario, as tradition has it that Pokémon characters are added in every new iteration since Melee. Then again, a Pokémon character would be a nice callback to Smash 4's Mewtwo as the first DLC to be confirmed. And there's the fact Sakurai is as much of an unpredictable wild card as ever.

Banjo and Kazooie are notable in what they imply (my stance on this is an "either/or" one, although the possibilities of further collaboration between Microsoft and Nintendo are definitely plausible - and a plus overall - at this point):
1) first actual Rare representative (Diddy and K. Rool don't count, keep reading) as BK is an entirely Rare-created IP, which brings us to...
2) first actual western IP representative, and by extension...
3) Microsoft rep. Yep, we're gonna see Microsoft listed among the IP owners' names at the end of the trailers!

Isaac is one of the characters I was hoping for (the others being less likely ones such as Doomguy, Sora, Crash, Spyro and Master Chief) as we'd have a character ready for JRPG representation should a later Smash installment not include Cloud. Also, I just want to see @LasermasterA finally get his wish (I don't forget anyone). Where are you, man? Speak up! Stop lurking in total radio silence!

Chorus Kids is "team fake" material to me, for the reason @JazzyPone has given. They've been the subject of countless fake leaks in the past, and they're not exactly fighter material (then again, Villager, Isabelle, ROB, Duck Hunt Duo and Wii Fit Trainer kind of exist, plus the aforementioned Wild Card Sakurai factor).

Ken and Shadow, on the other hand, are "team real" material. Now that Echo Fighters are Sakurai's official way to acknowledge clones, some new animations and voice clips will take a stupidly low amount of effort. They're in to me.

Mach Rider, last but very much not least, is a curious choice - the whole "fighter on wheels" schtick is weird to pull off, but given the fact there is a new retro fighter in each installment (Mr. G&W, Ice Climbers, Melee; ROB, Pit, Brawl; Duck Hunt Duo, Pac-Man and Mega Man, Smash 4; this reasoning, though, can be debunked by the first point I mentioned - namely, the absence of a new Pokémon fighter), Sakurai's own ability to make movesets out of anyone and the very fact the seeds have been lying there in plain sight for a very long time now makes me think we're going to see a Mach Rider character trailer before you know it.
As for further "seeds", remember how Pit, Meta Knight, King Dedede and others got a Melee trophy?

I totally forgot about Geno, lol, so here's an edit for the comment.
Cool character overall, a bit bummed for him to technically fill the Square Enix second-rep quota (the series icon will most likely still be Mario's mushroom, although probably with a different victory fanfare if Rosalina and Luma, Bowser and Bowser Jr. are anything to go by), but I'll take what I can get. Plausible for all reasons given so far (Sakurai wants him, the fans do as well, SNES Classic also made him relevant again, yep, he's in).

Yawn

@Caryslan Ken of course. He's literally the epitome of echo fighter

@GrailUK
Damn right he is!

@Giygas_95 Hooray another Dillon fan! Really wish Nintendo would do something bigger with him and his world.

This sounds like a bit of a wish list, but then they've pulled out popular wish list character already with Ridley, K.Rool, Dark Samus and the Inklings.

Personally I'd love to see Dillon, Chibi Robo, Mallo (Pushmo/Pullblox), Geno, Paper Mario, Springman/Ribbongirl and some kind of Rhythm Heaven/Paradise rep. Chorus Kids would be fine but I'd imagine a more neutral character like Tibby who uses all the other characters to attack would make more sense(like Pac-Man using Namco IP or Duck hunt using the light scope games).

Give me Banjo!!

Maybe they landed somewhere else but it looks like the Mii fighters is out of the picture. Literally. Other than that, I think it would be a weird coincidence if Banjo and Geno are included. 2 of the most speculated characters since this games reveal.
Isaac makes no sense to me. The Golden Sun franchise might have a dedicated fan base, but it's a very small one. The games are pretty much irrelevant at this point and they never reached such a classic status that other dormant (and included) franchises did.

......I remember when echo fighters were called palette swaps!!!!

Banjo is a big one to add, just because of how matey Nintendo and MS are and the hope this is the start to bigger things. Haha maybe part of the deal is to add Phil Spencer to the roster, hes a Nintendo fan!!!

Eh, Shulk is just a photoshopped Little Mac.

Everything points out of it being real. Like yeah there are a few things to debunk this leak, but more things to give it power and those arguments are stronger too. This would mean we would have a whopping 81 characters (8 echo’s, 73 unique counting mii and pkmn trainer as 3 each)

@DavidMac Then they should use Mallow.

Shantae has basically been confirmed so this really doesn't hold much water.

I feel like this is fake, Ken is the most likely one, Shadow possibly but I don't know enough about the other characters to say. B&K have been a fan pick forever though so...

Waluigi will be the final boss in most end stages on Ultimate.

Called it.

I love the Geno I so hope this is true . Secretly I was and I am hoping we get Balder, Bayonetta's father from Bayonetta 1 and 2 of course he is such a badass and spectacular character design he is playable in Bayonetta 2. Balder if not in Smash Bros Ultimate I atleast hope for a return to form in Bayonetta 3 . Even Rosa Bayonetta's mom would be amazing in Smash Bros Ultimate I love her outfit in Bayonetta 2, alright now I gotta go play Bayonetta 2 what a stand out in your face title.

I got rambling about Bayonetta and forgot to mention the other character I hope I so hope makes a return to Smash and I am surprised that not more fans mention him is the one and only Tabuu from Smash Bros Brawl I really really really would love to see his inclusion in Ultimate he was awesome.

@SakuraHaruka Since Shovel Knight is only an assist so far I doubt Shantae will make it as a playable character. Unfortunately.

@GameOtaku Where has it been?

@NovaCam We always had a surprise Retro-Character and Mach Rider's Theme is in Smash since Melee.

I hope this is fake. I really enjoy the characters, but just look at what the Smash Wii U and 3DS leaks did. It wasn't any good for the hype.

I want the Chorus Kids to sing at my funeral, whether or not they make it in Smash.

We’ve got less than 6 weeks, yeah? That’s not much time to cover so many additional fighters. Then again, Sakurai said it would slow down, not stop completely.
Banjo would be awesome. My nostalgia effect would force me to main him. Wa-hey!

I've been waiting for Shadow to be a thing in Smash, but now that he's no longer voiced by Griffith it seems like he would be really awkward to play as; like if I was playing a FAKE.

@Nukuleardawg I noticed this too. The thing is, I don't think characters on the banner have been moved around before on prior reveals. Makes me think it's one of the best fakes we've had.

If it is true let's hope this French print company loses their contract to supply the artwork

@NintoRich Why "let's hope" ? This is the fault to a single employee, and because of him you want to whole company to loose the contract and probably shut down ? Rude

@Ogbert He's just such a perfect fit for Smash.

@LightBeam yes, I believe people should be punished and it is tough luck, an example needs to be set that leaks are not good for the industry. If I was Nintendo, Bandai/Namco I wouldn't work with them again, besides it is one job I don't see why they would shut down, they have plenty of other clients I am sure

I'm buying this one. Shadow and Ken are both shoe-ins. Geno is a perennial top request, just like K Rool and Ridley. Chorus Kids were supposedly cut from Smash 4, so they would make sense. Mach Rider seems an odd inclusion, but then we've had Ice Climbers since Melee, haven't we?

I believe it. All cool characters, but nobody I would’ve picked. Awesome for the people who want them, though!

Look. You really can’t complain with SSBU’s roster. It’s excellent. A star-studded cast of Nintendo greats, Nintendo not-so-greats, and 3rd party celebrities. Over 70 characters already. The roster right now is phenomenal, and these few more characters will be the icing on the cake for me.

It's hard to tell but that Shadow artwork looks reused, like I've seen it somewhere before. Also, it's clear they have just removed the Mii Fighters and slapped Shadow over it.

Not convinced. Clearly fake.

While I'll reserve judgment until Nintendo makes an official announcement, I'm always amazed how sure some are that this character or that character won't be in the game. I mean, we had a whole comment section not too long ago on why Ridley would.never be in a Smash game, only to have that proven wrong. I think at this point, Sakura can make any character work if he wants to

Seriously doubtful. For reasons I am sure others have already mentioned.

Real or fake, this leak made me smile the most on how it spontaneously involves The Grinch

I think it lines up a little too well with popular rumors, but maybe that's just my complete and utter disinterest in Geno and Golden Sun talking. This will mean that that Inkling, King K. Rool and Shadow will be the only newcomers of interest to me.

@JazzyPone Chorus Kids are probably one of the top two reps from Rhythm Heaven, which is probably the biggest unrepresented Nintendo IP at this point in terms of sales and still ongoing to this day. It's not THAT out there.

@MarinoKadame Since they didn't explain it well in the article, it's not the artwork that makes this likely. The video itself contained other things, like promotional artwork that was previously unseen for the new Grinch movie, and someone traced back the name of the initial of the 2 leakers (the one who shared the video privately, not the friend of theirs who leaked the stills publically) to prove they were actually employed for a company who usually handles marketing for Bandai-Namco due to the name not being fully obscured by the second leaker.

@BlueKnight07 They have indeed been moved around before, but even so the way they were moved here would require the leaker recreating portions of the artwork that have been previously obscured, including both characters and the background.

After a lot of over analyzing on my part, I'm leaning towards Team Real.

Every character is on the leak, yes, even the Miis. They're all bunched between K. Rool and Mewtwo, which makes sense to have them together in the end.

I think Rob is between Luigi and Diddy Kong, just to the upper left of Ken. Hard to tell since his colors blend in with Luigi's smoke trail.

Also, Banjo's render is too dissimilar to the fan artwork. Banjo and Kazooie look like they're gliding, while the fan art has them standing with their arms above their heads.

Chorus kids shadow blends with Pkmn Trainer's.

Only reason for the blur was the image was taken from a video and taking still images from videos, especially when the person holding the phone isn't staying still, usually doesn't produce the best quality. That and sometimes indoor lighting messes with phones recording quality.

I'm usually skeptical of every leak, but this leak just seems too convincing to be fake.

@link3710 hmmm...maybe it is real. Where is that Direct????!!!!!

@BlueKnight07 Well, according to all the rumors, probably not until September 8th.

@link3710 Guessing you mean November...wish it would come sooner.

@Frenean
#9
Isaac?

@thesilverbrick
#31
Who said it would be for free?
Also, hasn't Microsoft said that they would love for Banjo to be in Smash? It's very plausible.

Overall, this leak seems legit, the only thing that would make it more so, is for the Nintendo ninjas to take out those who leaked this. If they don't do anything however, then this could be fake.
Also, kinda hoping its fake, if only because none of these characters generate any hype for me, but thats me being greedy.

Please, not the Chorus Kids. They are Assist Trophy material, at the most. If any Rhythm Heaven character deserves a spot in the roster, it is Karate Joe (Jr.).

Isaac I approve (despite not trying a GS game), Banjo and Kazooie I approve (because I have played the N64 games), Ken and Shadow, because "why not?". And definitely Mach Rider (because I was yesterday years old when I found out that Mach Rider IS. A. WOMAN.)

I wish Geno and Shantae were already confirmed.

But whatever the roster will ultimately be (pun intended), it's going to be a fantastic game. I can barely wait.

I think this has a very good chance of being real. All these characters were either assist trophies or normal trophies in the past (except for Banjo-Kazooie).
Plus this post doesn't show the original photo the blurry image was taken from. It was taken far away as it was being printed from a machine. Clearly the employee wasn't going to pull out his phone and take a super close up of the banner and risk getting caught, so he did the best he could.
Also, anyone else notice that it looks like Isaac is using his powers to make things grow underneath him? Wonder what move that relate to.

@JazzyPone So was the Duck Hunt dog.

It seems people are finding KOS-MOS in the image too

This reminds me of when people thought this smash bros. was going to be a port. I wonder if they're the same people who think this is fake.

@BlueKnight07 they have moved a few times actually, look at the mii fighters, diddy kong, ike and little mac, shulk and pacman and more

@Big_Ounce me too agent Maller

The extent that people are going to in order to try to debunk this reminds me of the ESRB leak, which makes me think it's real.

BuT iT cAN't pOssIbLY bE rEaL iF iNcINeROaR iSn'T thERe
I love how all leaks are judged real or fake by whether or not a Gen 7 Pokemon is listed (typically Incineroar). Pokemon has nine playable characters this time around. That's more than enough. Even Sakurai's favorite FE series only has seven.

@NovaCam I have to agree that Mach Rider is unlikely, but I really hope it's real. I've been dreaming about Nintendo hiring Platinum to make a new Mach Rider for years now. It would basically be Vanquish, but with a motorcycle.

@NerdyBoutKirby but every game always had at least one pokemon rep. Not to mention, Mario technically has 10 representatives since Wario, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong are still Mario characters even if they represent their own series.

I hope there’s at least one more character not shown since we now know who’s left and the surprise would be ruined

@Entrr_username True though that may be, Mario is Nintendo's #1 franchise--it's understandable it'd have the most fighters. I don't feel DK, Wario, and Yoshi should be counted since they no longer associated completely with the Mario brand. As for a new Pokemon in every game, Smash doesn't do consistency all that well--Zelda got a new rep each time until Smash 4, Kirby was down to one until Brawl but didn't get any more after that, Metroid just got a surge of new fighters, and Smash 4 went hog wild with Fire Emblem. Nothing's stopping Sakurai from ignoring Pokemon this time around and just updating Pokeballs.

Let's not forget about the 2015 Smash Ballot which is informing all the newcomers this time around (give or take Richter and Mach Rider, which brings up the inconsistency point again). Incineroar wasn't known to the public in 2015.

Is fake. The placement of the characters in the art is not how is suposed to be. And what this guy did was try use things of old rumors.

There is definitely space for other players.. but we'll play the waiting game for their announcements. Nintendo have a really good relationship with BandiNamco... still crossing fingers for DBZ characters

If so, it is shocking to me that there is no one from Arms. I really hope that up isn’t dead. Sure it wasn’t perfect, but with some improvements in a sequel it could really be something.

@ACK mallow wouldn’t work he’s literally mocked in the game for being a frog that can’t jump. (I realize he isn’t a Frog.) but in a game where most characters have at least 3 “jumps” he’d be useless. Also Geno is way more of a fighter.

If they did a character from SM RPG other than Geno I’d actually say go with Booster.

What happened to Chibi-Robo and Saki?

Saki is a character I often dreamt about being in the original Smash 64 as a secret 13th fighter. I have a very strong image in my head and his N64 3D-model and fighting style would have been such a perfect match. Obviously he has not appeared in 64 (as the first game in the Sin&Punishment series was released one year after Smash 64). Unfortunately he never fought in any of Smash's sequels either (except as an assist trophy).

Chibi-Robo is a Nintendo All-Star that should have been in there since Brawl, and with his first 2D-game "Zip Lash" he has great potential for a cool Smash moveset. I think a missing moveset was the sole reason for him to not make the jump into Brawl and Smash 4.

I would put Zael (The Last Story) over Isaac, and Elma (Xenoblade X) over Geno, as for Nintendo quality RPG characters. I completed both Golden Sun and Super Mario RPG, but I think The Last Story and Xeno X are much stronger RPGs. Just my opinion.

Now that Krystal is deconfirmed I kinda wish I voted for Chibi-Robo in the ballot instead.

Well if the n64 mini is real, you might as well get the co-op between rare games now owned by microsoft acknowledged and get banjo in there.

I'd love it.

@Frenean Unless of course that Sword wielder is Issac and he gets to use his Psy powers.

@JazzyPone for me this particular leak could be "false" that I would not be surprised to see some characters ending up true additions.

Namely it's the inclusion of Shadow because he would be the perfect echo fighter of Sonic.
And like Dark Samus, he was an assist trophy who had yet to reappear in current gameplay videos.
Thinking about it, I've yet to see Issac appear as an assist trophy in previews so far as well.

Ken weirdly feels like a character that would be doable with limited effort as well, an echo fighter of Ryu.

@JazzyPone
I wouldn't make bets like that lol. What if it is true?

And tbf, there is a lot of evidence pointing towards it being true. Not to mention it being extremely elaborate for a fake. Also, we still have 0 evidence pointing towards it being fake except the argument "Stuff has been fake before, so it can be fake"

To me anyway, all the circumstances behind the leak and the mounting evidence make this leak look like ESRB 2.0 Not many believed in ESRB back in Smash 4 days (photoshopped Little Mac anyone?) but it turned out to be true.

Now we just gotta wait and watch what happens with this one.

If it's true, I'm obviously happy that Isaac finally got his time to shine!

@AlexSora89
Oh hey! Sorry didn't notice the mention before!

Yup I am very excited about all this, Golden Sun will finally rise again woo!!!

Just been showing my excitement on Smashboards and Golden Sun discords more lately

@LasermasterA
Link 'em up, man! Whenever a fan is made happy by Smash is always heartwarming to me, especially when said fan comes from a smaller fandom.
While neat, the Brawl AT version of Isaac was kind of an insult - boiling Golden Sun down to the move psynergy was quite the understatement. Here's hoping Ultimate will do the character justice.
Of course, bears repeating - the leak is not 100% true unless proved to be true by Nintendo themselves - so let's not be too preemptive in our rejoicement, even with the Golden Sun item and the Golden Sun tweet tease being taken into account.
However, most evidence seems to point at Isaac (or Matthew) being playable, and if you see my reasoning behind Isaac (my first comment above) being vital in keeping JRPG representation without Cloud in the future, it's almost guaranteed on a "matter of not if, but when" level at this point.

@AlexSora89
There's a lot of evidence and it's mounting. The guy deleted his LinkedIn, he was actually reported to be involved with Bamco, none of the renders have been found on the net before, and more.

Also one person on Reddit tried recreating it with the original mural and he found that it had a lot of changes that'd be unnecessary it was fake. Basically claiming that it's TOO elaborate to be fake:
https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/9rnsf6/a_recreation_and_analysis_of_the_leaked_mural/

The fake camp literally has no evidence atm, besides "It can be fake, so it's probably fake". I think this is a legit leak, but to be on the safe side, I'll give it a 90% chance to be true.

@Euler You do realize this game has been in development longer than this year right? Plenty of time to work out licenses... what.

@LasermasterA
I'm hoping it's true. HARD.
I still want Decidueye, Sora and Crash though

@Kalmaro They should have already put in Ken too!
(Although part of me still believes in that Mii Outfit-to characters Theory)

Still can't believe there's no ARMS characters! But loads of generic fire emblem fighters.

@ACK 1. Shadow is just an echo.
2. Kid Icarus does not need more representation at all. 3 is too many already.
3. ARMS rep will be dlc because I doubt they'd be in the base game because of their release and development window.
4. Chibi Robo is pretty dead and not very iconic imo.
5. Geno is interesting he has a cool moveset potential, cool design, a history with nintendo and hes been clammered for for years.

@VexingInsanity 1. Hades is the best, most fabulous villain in any Nintendo game. There should at least be a stage inside his belly.
2. Chibi Robo is a perfect character, iconic or not. His design, his animations, his ethos are all integral. To me that's more than iconic.
3. Geno is no more iconic and less interesting. From my viewpoint he offers basically nothing other than a throwback to SMRPG. There is very little to even work with other than a mediocre character design.
4. Fans clamor for all the dumbest things.

@ACK 1. Regardless of what people clamor for. Its what they want. 2. Geno has a large move pool because hes from an RPG. Also SMRPG is a highly beloved game and is more popular than chibi robo 3 Hades might be cool but Kid Icarus has plenty of representation as cool as that sounds 4. Chibi Robo has a small following and isnt as popular as the other characters theyre adding. Though not very iconic i think he deserves to get in one day.

I can see shadow (and possibly silver) being an echo fighter, but tbh tails and knuckles should come before shadow dose.

so, uhhh

looks like i don't have to chew on my cart y'all