balladofwindfishes
Member
There are already certain characters that are a given, I think. Isabelle and Inkling are no-brainers. Xenoblade already has characters ready too (Elma), and there are always old Mario/Donkey Kong/Zelda characters to choose from. Pokémon will always have new cool characters ready as well. And yeah, who knows what retro franchise will be revived, if any. A lot can happen between now and the next Smash game.
Elma will be half a decade old when Smash 5 comes out. She'll have her fans, but what impact will a character from a mediocre selling RPG released half a decade ago have? I don't believe Xenoblade will get another character. X will have a few song rips on Guar Plains with Shulk returning and that'll be about as far as Xenoblade gets.
I also don't think Isabelle is a given. Not for any particular reason against her character, I just don't think they'll want her participating in violence.
Inkling is 100% getting in Smash. They are the Brawl's Olimar for Smash 5.
I can't really think of an old Mario character not in Smash, unless we start really pulling in oddballs like Kamek and Waluigi. And I wouldn't mind either (Kamek would be awesome), I don't believe either will be in Smash. Paper Mario really feels like the only potential Mario character that could be added to Smash. Foreman Spike would be interesting, and he's very much a character right up Sakurai's alley, but eh...
Donkey Kong has everyone from Jr to Dixie to K Rool to even Funky or Cranky. Literally any of them. Pick one Sakurai.
Zelda has Impa, Beast Ganon and Tingle. Or any newer character that becomes a series staple (if Linkle starts appearing more, for example). Not really sure how I feel their chances are. Zelda desperately needs a new character for Smash though.
It's really hard to think about a Smash 5 roster though, because characters like Rosalina, Robin and Greninja will likely exist by that time. While for when Brawl was out nobody would have thought about them for the next Smash (obviously lol)