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[balladofwindfishes]

So I've been playing Mother 1.

When are we getting a Ninten alt for Ness so all three kids are in the game? Make his shirt have thinner stripes, give him messy hair, give him red socks and blue shoes, turn his hat the opposite way, give him rosey cheeks and eyebrows and lose the backpack and we have all three Mother Protagonists as playable. Have the announcer say his name, the whole nine yards. He looks too much like Ness to be his own slot (and Mother already has more reps than a series its size ever needed). But different enough to be a neat alt.

Like 75% of the Mother music is from Mother 1. Mother 1 has an entire stage! With the recent release of the Earthbound Beginnings, it seems like it would be nice and sell well since Mother hype is at an all time high.

 

[Masked Man]

For some reason, there's a Japanese TV commercial for the DLC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRrq8CBGdw4

Needs more Lucas! That one clip at the end isn't enough.

 

[Zubz]

For some reason, there's a Japanese TV commercial for the DLC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRrq8CBGdw4

Huh. Mortal Kombat X did commercials for its DLC, too, so I guess DLC's become big enough to advertise like it was a game.

Still, MKX advertised its DLC because it was adding Slasher Movie Staple Jason Vorhees into an already-heavily-advertised game. And isn't Smash not nearly as popular in Japan as it is elsewhere?

 

[KingBroly]

For some reason, there's a Japanese TV commercial for the DLC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRrq8CBGdw4

I mean...I guess if I dropped $30 worth of DLC at once and could afford to do a commercial, I'd do it too.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

I would pay unseemly amounts of money proportionate to Green Headband Jigglypuff. Brings back memories of wrecking all my Roy/Marth playing friends back in the day.

 

[Neiteio]

For some reason, there's a Japanese TV commercial for the DLC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRrq8CBGdw4

Smash DLC has probably made more money for Nintendo than some games in their entirety. Not surprised they're advertising.

 

[Maengun1]

I'd really love to see a DK-series duo update, with K. Rool as an entirely new character, and Dixie as possibly a semi-clone of Diddy, to make her easier to develop or whatever. Standard moves could be the same, but she has different specials (with her ponytail twirl as Up-B being the most obvious...maybe a bubblegum projectile instead of the peanut gun etc.).

 

[Boss Doggie]

I was kinda expecting some DLC hint in the coding but looks like the dream is dead.

 

[Masked Man]

I was kinda expecting some DLC hint in the coding but looks like the dream is dead.

Makes you wonder if they were initially planning to drop it all in a bombshell DLC update alongside Mewtwo back in April.

 

[IntelliHeath]

AwkwardZombie finally did a comic on Roy and Ryu.

 

[Neiteio]

So... Wolf is a lock, right? Easier to port from Brawl... Already Luigi-fied vs. Fox and Falco... Star Fox Zero is a big holiday title this year... Hashimoto tweeted that Wolf will appear in SFZ... Sakurai has known about SFZ for years now... Etc, etc.

Maybe we'll hear something about Wolf with the tournament mode update in August. I wonder if that's also when we'll get Peach's Castle 64 and Hyrule Castle 64.

I also think Squirtle and Ivysaur are more likely than people think. Yes, that would bring us up to eight Pokemon reps. I really don't think that's a problem. If anything, it's rather convenient there's 8-Player Smash! Also, eight Pokemon reps in a roster of 50+ is still a smaller percent of the overall roster than the Pokemon presence in Brawl. And Squirtle and Ivysaur are Brawl characters, so easier to import (as Sakurai tells it). They'll each need at least two extra moves — a new Down Special, and a Final Smash — but they're guaranteed to sell like HOTCAKES. Hopefully The Pokemon Company sees how lucrative this could be and green-lights it.

AwkwardZombie finally did a comic on Roy and Ryu.

This is fantastic. I love the tacked-on signs on the banner, haha.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Wolf shares as many animations with Fox as Little Mac does with Captain Falcon. And he has less in common with Fox than Roy does with Ike.

 

[Boss Doggie]

who's Ron

 

[Neiteio]

I'd really love to see a DK-series duo update, with K. Rool as an entirely new character, and Dixie as possibly a semi-clone of Diddy, to make her easier to develop or whatever. Standard moves could be the same, but she has different specials (with her ponytail twirl as Up-B being the most obvious...maybe a bubblegum projectile instead of the peanut gun etc.).

I'd also love this. K. Rool and Dixie Kong. They could even offer a two-in-one bundle at a reduced price point.

I see Dixie Kong being a mix of Diddy and Donkey.

Like Diddy Kong, she could have a projectile move (bubblegum gun from TF), the Monkey Flip, and acrobatic A-button moves, but with a ponytail twirl instead of a cartwheel.

Like Donkey Kong, she could have a ground pound, a helicopter spin, and the ability to grab and carry foes, but she would use her ponytail instead.

K. Rool, meanwhile, would play unlike any other character in the game.

 

[Azure J]

AwkwardZombie finally did a comic on Roy and Ryu.

About as much as Roy deserves.

Spoiler

Just playing.

Spoiler

When's Lyn?

 

[IntelliHeath]

So... Wolf is a lock, right? Easier to port from Brawl... Already Luigi-fied vs. Fox and Falco... Star Fox Zero is a big holiday title this year... Hashimoto tweeted that Wolf will appear in SFZ... Sakurai has known about SFZ for years now... Etc, etc.

Maybe we'll hear something about Wolf with the tournament mode update in August. I wonder if that's also when we'll get Peach's Castle 64 and Hyrule Castle 64.

I also think Squirtle and Ivysaur are more likely than people think. Yes, that would bring us up to eight Pokemon reps. I really don't think that's a problem. If anything, it's rather convenient there's 8-Player Smash! Also, eight Pokemon reps in a roster of 50+ is still a smaller percent of the overall roster than the Pokemon presence in Brawl. And Squirtle and Ivysaur are Brawl characters, so easier to import (as Sakurai tells it). They'll each need at least two extra moves — a new Down Special, and a Final Smash — but they're guaranteed to sell like HOTCAKES. Hopefully The Pokemon Company sees how lucrative this could be and green-lights it.

I think Wolf is more likely to be next DLC character so I would presume that his release date should be August, along with rest of the updates.

However with Squirtle and Ivysaur, I really have a doubt that they are coming back.

who's Ron

Uhhh, I guess that's red headed guy who always spit out fires through sword?

 

[Nocturnowl]

Another day, another rightful wish for K.Rool and Dixie combo, this never ending speculation just ain't good for my health.

 

[Regulus Tera]

I'm gonna adhere to my theory that all all leftover Brawl veterans will make it because 1) easy job, 2) fuck "franchise representation" we need Squirtle back.

We are having an update in August for tourneys, so I'm guessing one of them will come then.

EDIT: Otoh, Masked Man's blog (Masked Man?) wrote a nice article on why not to expect more DLC: https://sourcegaming.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/the-end-of-smash-dlc/#more-715

 

[Neiteio]

I think Wolf is more likely to be next DLC character so I would presume that his release date should be August, along with rest of the updates.

If Wolf is in the works, they might hold onto him until October or November, to coincide with whenever Star Fox Zero releases

 

[Morts]

I doubt it will happen, but after the ballot closes I'd love to see the actual results. Maybe the top ten after they cull the duplicate votes and death threats.

I'm still over here waving that Rayman flag.

 

[Clefargle]

EDIT: Otoh, Masked Man's blog (Masked Man?) wrote a nice article on why not to expect more DLC: https://sourcegaming.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/the-end-of-smash-dlc/#more-715

Bah, I refuse to believe it. With the rate these chars have been rolled out, I'm betting we get two more (snake & wolf) with the tourney update and then after october we get the winner(s) of the poll.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Goodbye Wolf

;_;

 

[Neiteio]

If Masked Man is right (I don't think he has an airtight case, but we're all in the dark), we would be getting two Fighter Ballot characters, one of which would release before the ballot officially closes in October. Maybe I misread, but I'm not sure where the assumption comes that we'll get two fighters based on the ballot. It seems possible that if there are only two DLC characters remaining, one could be Wolf (released in August or September) and the other could be based on the ballot (released after October).

But I still think it's possible they could just redesign the CSS entirely and incorporate it for those who own all the DLC, and add additional slots to accommodate however many characters they want to add — and however much money they want to make. ;-)

 

[balladofwindfishes]

That's a lot of assumptions, wow.

1. That we're only getting two more characters. This gravy train could be rode for years, they can figure something out for the CSS.
2. That both of the last two DLC characters are from the poll. Despite them never actually saying any characters at all would be guaranteed to be added from the poll. Doing so would mean our next DLC characters earliest release is late winter of 2016, assuming a 6 month dev period... yea. That's not right.
3. That a vet cannot be a "winner" of the poll. Which was never stated or implied or anything. Wolf is likely doing well in the ballot. Enough that they can release him and claim he was from the ballot if they really needed to. Just saying "it doesn't look good for Wolf" didn't say anything...

Wolf will be back.

Here's my assumptions.

1. Sakurai is having a blast doing DLC. That man's face was glowing during the Direct and he was super hyped for Ryu. That was probably the most relieved and loose I've ever seen him. It's a low pressure, small, focused team dedicated to doing nothing but making things fans will love, I'm sure he's enjoying it.
2. Smash DLC is easy money. Like really easy money. 100% of consoles used for tournaments are required to have all characters. 100% of competitive players will need all the DLC to train and practice. People absolutely adore Smash DLC and hype it as much as they did announcements for the proper game.
3. If they were planning on ending DLC after a year they wouldn't make a poll for future DLC ideas that ended a year after the game was released. If they're truly going to use the poll for future DLC, then they obviously have plans for support well passed 2015.
4. Bringing back Lucas and Roy, but not Wolf, not only doesn't make any sense, but it's just downright silly to even consider. Every single forum, poll or whatever I've ever seen has had Wolf as #1 or #2 most popular vet only behind Snake. Lucas and Roy were well liked and missed, but Wolf is a whole other league. He sits proudly with Mewtwo, Snake and Ice Climbers as the "big" cuts the series has had.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Ivysaur.

Ivy.

Saur.

That is all.

8/57 really isn't that big a ratio, especially considering Pokemon's consistent relevance and popularity above any other franchise represented by Smash.

 

[Neiteio]

OK, let's look at the timeline:

1) DLC was teased last November, with our first glimpse at Mewtwo's model.

2) Fast-forward five months to April 2015: Mewtwo is released, Lucas is shown, and there is evidence of Roy and Ryu in the patch. There are also two extra slots for characters.

3) Fast-forward two months to June 2015: Lucas, Roy and Ryu are released. No evidence of future DLC characters in this update.

4) Fast-forward two months to August 2015: What will happen? Tournament Mode will be released, and likely Peach's Castle 64 and Hyrule Castle 64. But what else might happen?

5) Fast-forward another two months, to October 2015: The Fighter Ballot formally comes to a close. What then?

It seems that every two months, there will be a new DLC development for Smash. Whether that involves characters, from here on out, is anyone's guess.

I'm inclined to think there will be more characters than Masked Man guessed in his blog post. Nintendo is so confident in the profitability of the DLC that they're running commercials for it in Japan. Sakurai has also managed to incorporate four characters so far — Mewtwo, Lucas, Roy and Ryu — along with new stages and Miiverse outfits, the YouTube feature, balance patches, etc.

So I'm a bit more optimistic — but how optimistic? Well, Sakurai has established the Fighter Ballot concludes in October. He may start work on a ballot-based character before then, but I suspect any character based on the ballot would take at least a few months to appear. He doesn't want to release a ballot-based fighter right after the polls close — if he does that, then everyone knows that Sakurai wasn't paying attention to votes near the end of the campaign.

And maybe they -will- already be working on the character before the campaign is over. Maybe the campaign is "just for show." Either way, they will want to maintain the appearance that 1) the ballot-based fighter was chosen after voting had ended, in October, and 2) that development on this character took place after voting ended.

That right there locks Sakurai into a commitment of at least a few months beyond October. In which case, we're looking at Sakurai working on DLC for July... August... September... October... and likely November and December, as well.

About five to six months... About the same time from Mewtwo's reveal to Mewtwo's release. A time during which they were also working on Lucas, Roy and Ryu. So in that amount of time, if they have Sakurai locked down this way, I think they would expect more characters. Sakurai knows the players would expect it, and unlike the stages, Sakurai has said nothing to lower our expectations. He didn't say, "I don't think we can add many more characters." I'm sure he's said it in interviews, but he didn't say it in the Direct. Instead there's a ballot that's open and ongoing, and the polls don't close until October.

Any (or all) of the remaining Brawl veterans seem possible. Easy money for Nintendo, if Sakurai is willing to put in the work and rebalance the game for them. They'll sell, and Sakurai can feel happy knowing the roster is even closer to the ultimate lineup, reuniting more fans with their mains.

I don't see why the CSS couldn't be redesigned, and simply activated for those with all of the DLC. It's hard to imagine how they could fit in all the characters, but I'm sure they could find a way to make it work. Perhaps it would be a matter of shortening the boxes for 1P, 2P, 3P, etc, allowing for another row. I don't know, but so far everyone seems to be thinking of what could fit based on the current design. It's possible they could just overhaul the layout altogether. And add more slots for more characters — I think they're going to be much more controlling with what leftover data can be gleaned from each update.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

If they didn't just horizontally squash the icons and instead actually cropped them properly, they can fit 4 more slots on top of the 2 already open.

See here... they just did it really lazily. But they can do it right and get more space.

I just noticed something else: in order to accommodate the DLC characters, the select screen portraits have been stretched horizontally to fit a 14th row. It's not a big deal, but if you look closely at the portraits everyone is just a tiny bit too narrow. Unless the select screen is mechanically redesigned through a patch, there isn't going to be room for a 15th column. I thought the borders of the portraits would move inward to fit more characters, in which case a 15th column would be feasible, but instead the game simply stretches the portraits horizontally.

Here's what a regular portrait looks like:

Instead of making room for additional columns by moving the borders in, like this...

...the game stretches the portrait like this:

It's barely noticeable as is, but it's going to look way too unprofessional if we get at least three more DLC characters.

 

[Neiteio]

If they didn't just horizontally squash the icons and instead actually cropped them properly, they can fit 4 more slots on top of the 2 already open.

Six more fighters, on top of the four already released, for 10 total and 58 overall (before counting Mii Fighters, at which point it exceeds 60) would seem like a super-solid number. Ten was the number of extra characters Super Street Fighter IV had over vanilla SFIV.

 

[Tyeforce]

I just noticed something else: in order to accommodate the DLC characters, the select screen portraits have been stretched horizontally to fit a 14th row. It's not a big deal, but if you look closely at the portraits everyone is just a tiny bit too narrow. Unless the select screen is mechanically redesigned through a patch, there isn't going to be room for a 15th column. I thought the borders of the portraits would move inward to fit more characters, in which case a 15th column would be feasible, but instead the game simply stretches the portraits horizontally.

Here's what a regular portrait looks like:

Instead of making room for additional columns by moving the borders in, like this...

...the game stretches the portrait like this:

It's barely noticeable as is, but it's going to look way too unprofessional if we get at least three more DLC characters.

There's a lot that could be improved with the character select screen, but at least they finally fixed how King Dedede's icon displays his name.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

They also fixed the weird single pixel line that the last three entries on the third row had at the top.

That seriously bothered me.

Now if they could just fix ROBs' eyes...

 

[Neiteio]

Part of me wonders if Sakurai will surprise us all and find a way to make Ice Climbers work, as a pair, on both systems. It would probably require a huge overhaul to get around the CPU bottleneck on the 3DS. But hey, he made Olimar work with half as many Pikmin, and for Ryu, he reconciled Smash's two-button scheme with the six buttons and command inputs of Street Fighter. Honestly, after playing Ryu, I'm convinced Sakurai can do nearly anything. I have to imagine that cutting the Ice Climbers cut him deep. Maybe he'll still find a way... I'm not attached to the characters, and I love the current roster either way, but it'd sure be great for IC fans if Sakurai could find a way to pull through.

 

[Ryce]

Now if they could just fix ROBs' eyes...

Somebody who is fluent in Japanese seriously needs to Tweet Sakurai

Spoiler

*cough* Masked Man *cough*

. I don't even like using R.O.B. anymore because the eye glitch is so distracting. The Koopaling glitch also kind of bothers me, but that's just me being anal about something incredibly insignificant.

 

[Neiteio]

Somebody who is fluent in Japanese seriously needs to Tweet Sakurai

Spoiler

*cough* Masked Man *cough*

. I don't even like using R.O.B. anymore because the eye glitch is so distracting.

I'll probably regret asking, but what's wrong with ROB's eyes in the CSS?

 

[Ryce]

I'll probably regret asking, but what's wrong with ROB's eyes in the CSS?

Not the CSS, in-game. R.O.B.'s eyes are supposed to turn green when he gets hit, blink, animate, and so on... but he doesn't do any of that in the Wii U version of Smash mode. He's completely expressionless. Most of R.O.B.'s charm is gone because of a glitch.

 

[Neiteio]

Not the CSS, in-game. R.O.B.'s eyes are supposed to turn green when he gets hit, blink, animate, and so on... but he doesn't do any of that in the Wii U version of Smash mode. He's completely expressionless.

Whoa, how has Sakurai not noticed that??

Someone should tweet him.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

I'll probably regret asking, but what's wrong with ROB's eyes in the CSS?

Not on the CSS

In VS mode on the Wii U, ROB has no facial animation. In any other mode and on the 3DS, his eyes emote and change when he's hurt.

It makes him look emotionless when he really isn't supposed to be.

 

[L Thammy]

Haven't read Masked Man's blog, but my main reasoning for thinking that there will be quite a bit more character DLC is that there's still known DLC coming. Sakurai had a DLC team that was able to work on at least two semi-clones, one new character, and two stages simultaneously. That's the sort of workload they can handle.

An experienced manager is going to want to keep that team together. Imagine what happens if they start firing people to wind down DLC development. For the people who are part of the team, they're going to see people that they're used to seeing every day leave, so that's going to be disruptive on their work. Beyond that, the people who remain might have to pick up some of the work from the people who left, and they might be missing some information from that staff. It's just not very smart from a management standpoint.

At the same time, the people in the team need to do something, since they're going to be paid whether they do or not. And the two stages that have been announced doesn't seem to match their capacity.

Part of me wonders if Sakurai will surprise us all and find a way to make Ice Climbers work, as a pair, on both systems. It would probably require a huge overhaul to get around the CPU bottleneck on the 3DS.

Sakurai should split up the Ice Climber into separate characters. Then Roy-ify Nana. And charge them to us separately, just because he knows we're his DLC slaves.

 

[Neiteio]

Somebody who is fluent in Japanese seriously needs to Tweet Sakurai

Spoiler

*cough* Masked Man *cough*

. I don't even like using R.O.B. anymore because the eye glitch is so distracting. The Koopaling glitch also kind of bothers me, but that's just me being anal about something incredibly insignificant.

Wait, I just noticed you mention a Koopaling glitch. What's this about?

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Last patch did clean up some good stuff though
- King Dedede's name is now only one line on the CSS.

- Lucina now uses her voice lines for counter that were previously unused. "My Turn!" "You're Mine!" Only occasionally.

- DLC can now appear in the second round of Classic on the Wii U. Previously, Mewtwo didn't show up because he lacked customs. Now the characters just show up with their alt trophies so they aren't left out of the second half of the mode.

- The random one pixel line is gone on the last entries of the third row of the CSS.

All things that had bothered me before.

 

[Ryce]

Wait, I just noticed you mention a Koopaling glitch. What's this about?

It's a really small thing and I don't think anyone but me has noticed it, but if you use the Clown Kart Dash as a Koopaling (not Bowser Jr.) while facing the left side of the screen, the Koopaling's hands will perform the wrong gestures. Instead of pointing forward and holding the rim of the Clown Car, you'll hold an open hand forward and point down towards the Clown Car. It's weirdly specific and I'm surprised I noticed it.

 

[IntelliHeath]

Somebody who is fluent in Japanese seriously needs to Tweet Sakurai

Spoiler

*cough* Masked Man *cough*

. I don't even like using R.O.B. anymore because the eye glitch is so distracting. The Koopaling glitch also kind of bothers me, but that's just me being anal about something incredibly insignificant.

Contact Masked Man or PushDustin for the translation for ROB glitches request to be fix then rally some people here to tweet it to Sakurai,. Nintendo and Namco-Bandai.

I don't even noticed any glitches myself so I guess I was too focused in heat of the battles. XD

 

[J@hranimo]

Just read Masked Man's blog post.


...6 characters. I've had this hunch for quite some time now, although I'm not sure how the ballot will come into play. Maybe the ballot will just have one character be the 6th DLC. Maybe they will immediately start development after October. Then again that will lose momentum they have for DLC updates for the game this year.

2 melee vets, 2 brawl vets, 2 newcomers.

I still believe in Wolf returning. #FreeWolf

 

[Ryce]

I'm calling it now: Wolf and Dixie Kong are the only characters left. Everyone will complain that we got Dixie over K. Rool, people will whine that six DLC characters isn't enough, and people will call Sakurai a liar for not making the "ballot winner" into a character. All of Sakurai and his team's hard work will go unappreciated for months before people come to their senses and realize how great the game's roster is.

 

[Neiteio]

I'm calling it now: Wolf and Dixie Kong are the only characters left. Everyone will complain that we got Dixie over K. Rool, people will whine that six DLC characters isn't enough, and people will call Sakurai a liar for not making the "ballot winner" into a character. All of Sakurai and his team's hard work will go unappreciated for months before people come to their senses and realize how great the game's roster is.

All I know is I got Ryu in an orange gi, which is close enough to Goku that I'm satisfied

It would be nice to get K. Rool with a lime-green skin so I could finally have Shrek

 

[IntelliHeath]

If Wolf is in the works, they might hold onto him until October or November, to coincide with whenever Star Fox Zero releases

That's quite possible, then we could have Snake in August which is very close to MGS5 release date!

I doubt it will happen, but after the ballot closes I'd love to see the actual results. Maybe the top ten after they cull the duplicate votes and death threats.

I'm very curious about the polls itself, so I have a weird feeling that Nintendo wouldn't able to share those information with us.

Goodbye Wolf

;_;

Poor Boss Doggie. Time for you to change your avatar to superior dog.

...6 characters. I've had this hunch for quite some time now, although I'm not sure how the ballot will come into play. Maybe the ballot will just have one character be the 6th DLC. Maybe they will immediately start development after October. Then again that will lose momentum they have for DLC updates for the game this year.

2 melee vets, 2 brawl vets, 2 newcomers.

I still believe in Wolf returning. #FreeWolf

I don't really believe in this kind of things but I will play along with you.

2 MELEE VETS, 2 BRAWL VETS, 2 THIRD PARTY CHARACTERS!

Roy and Mewtwo, Lucas and Wolf, Ryu and Snake

Or it's possible that Sakurai could surprise us with Ice Climbers!

I'm calling it now: Wolf and Dixie Kong are the only characters left. Everyone will complain that we got Dixie over K. Rool, people will whine that six DLC characters isn't enough, and people will call Sakurai a liar for not making the "ballot winner" into a character. All of Sakurai and his team's hard work will go unappreciated for months before people come to their senses and realize how great the game's roster is.

Yeah, Dixie still have a good chance to become playable character but it would be very interesting to see the reactions.

 

[DICKS AHOY]

If we get Wolf and a new DK rep then I'll be satisfied with only two more DLC characters from now.

Snake is DEEEEEEEAD and the IC are taking a break Sakurai doesn't want to bring them out of for this game. Squirtle and Ivysaur are meh; neat if they get back in, but they're the only original movesets I'm not losing sleep over. Splatoon representation is probably stuck with that trophy and Mii costume until Inkling can headline Smash 5.

 

[GiantBreadbug]

Yeah I don't think I need to temper my expectations here with DLC.

I just... feel that there will be a good bit more. I don't know why. I feel Wolf will definitely return. Squirtle and Ivysaur stand a really good chance to, Ice Climbers could return because either Sakurai got the pair to work on 3DS, or they could be a pair on Wii U and solo (but powered up) on 3DS. That seems like a nice solution rather than just having them gone entirely.


As for newcomers, I'm pretty sure Sakurai had Ryu and one other newcomer in mind at the outset of DLC production. He's likely working now on any number of vets I mentioned, plus a newcomer who was worked on during reular development (Chorus Kids?). After the poll closes, he'll select a character or two from it and develop them while finishing up any vets he hasn't finished.

So:

Mewtwo
Lucas
Roy
Ryu
Newcomer cut from regular development
Wolf
Ice Climber (3DS) / Ice Climbers (Wii U)
Squirtle
Ivysaur
Poll Newcomer(s) [1-2] (DK character I think is a safe bet for one.)

That's what I think. It just seems to me that Sakurai is very eager to bring back vets. That's why I'm betting so much on Ivysaur and Squirtle, as well as Ice Climbers.

 

[Mizerman]

Meh, I'm already satisfied with the roster as it is. But hey, wouldn't mind if there's one or two DLC characters.

Would love if King K. Rool make it as a playable character, but I wouldn't be too disappointed if he wasn't.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

imo, once Wolf is added, the roster will be absolutely perfect and every Smash character that should have or could have returned will be in the game at that point.

Everything after Wolf is basically just a bonus.

 

[JB-the-Hunter]

imo, once Wolf is added, the roster will be absolutely perfect and every Smash character that should have or could have returned will be in the game at that point.

Everything after Wolf is basically just a bonus.

For me it's Wolf and Ice Climbers. The roster won't feel complete without them. They were vets since Melee, extremely unique, fun to use and watch and I really, really wanna see how they'd play in Smash 4's environment. If Sakurai can work out the technical issues I will love him forever.