Captain Olimar and his Pikmin have been confirmed, along with what I'm assuming is the new Pikmin stage.

I'm shocked they haven't officially revealed the names of any stages yet.

So, I just checked the Smashbros website today and noticed that the Picture of the Day today, it showed Wii Fit Trainer and Villager in the 3ds version, so it confirms that those will be in both versions and they will have the same roster.

Also, since no one else said anything about it, Luigi was confirmed a couple of weeks ago, you know, in case anyone ever doubted that he was coming back.

I would love if they took out snake and replaced him with big boss. Big boss is freaking amazing

I don't think Luigi being confirmed is shocking, but rather the timing of it. Usually at this point they only confirm the 3rd party characters and those available from the start (keeping that in mind, looks like Megaman will be unlockable). This could potentially mean for the 1st time in the series, Luigi will be available from the start. However, they might've just hastened his revelation to coincide with the "Year of Luigi".

Oh yeah, Weegee time. Immature time, too. Whenever someone mentions Luigi here, I just magically appear. ^^

I'M JUST SO EXCITED THAT THERE'S A NEW SMASH BROTHERS!

Let's see... Pit's new design is cool, Olimar is coming back, Toon Link is apparently returning as well (even though he is on a new stage as a background character), Mega Man will be the best 3rd party fighter ever, and the fact that Villager and Wii Fit Trainer are both being welcomed... I'm patiently awaiting the new Smash Brothers. I. WANT. IT.

Also Marth is back. I wonder if Ike will be brought back too. I think so since he seems like a popular Fire Emblem character outside of Japan. It's nice to have one of them speak English.

MARTHA'S BACK? YAY!

*coughs*

I'm not fangirling... *innocent smile* I'm glad he's back. Marth deserves it. He needs to come back. So does Ike.

Wait a minute... *looks at Olimar picture, then notices something* STEVE! THE RED HAS A LEAF!

The new challenger, as revealed during today's Nintendo Direct is...





Rosalina & Luma. Rosalina seems to use the Luma as a puppet instead of it being its own entity like with the Ice Climbers.

Also it seems to have confirmed Rainbow Road as a new stage.

And a new trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPdutb_6DZU

21 characters (counting Pikmin+Olimar and Rosalina+Luma as 1 each) have been revealed so far

from SSB; available from start: Mario, DK, Link, Samus, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu
from SSB; unlockable: Luigi
from SSBM; available from start: Peach, Bowser, Zelda
from SSBM; unlockable: Marth
from SSBB; available from star: Pit, Pikmin+Olimar, King Dedede
from SSBB; unlockable: Toon Link, Sonic
newcomers: Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, Megaman, Rosalina+Luma

Notable players that haven't been announced yet who many were probably expecting to be early reveals (if they were to come back): Yoshi, Wario, Meta Knight, and maybe to some extent Ike and Diddy Kong. Jigglypuff was revealed pretty late for SSB despite being an original SSB character, and Captain Falcon and Ness, if they are coming back, we will probably have to wait as well.

Since Luigi, Marth, and Toon Link have been revealed this early, they might be available from the start, since in SSBB they revealed all the starting characters earlier than the unlockable players, aside from the 3rd party characters. So I'm thinking Megaman will probably be unlockable as well.

Also about 1/4 of the characters so far are female, which I think is interesting. But really aside from bringing back Ice Climbers for Nana and if Jigglypuff is considered female due to its personality and male/female ratio, not too many possibilities left for major female players. I think Birdo or Dixie Kong would be a stretch, and Krystal from Starfox would likely just be another clone.

Also if they do add another 3rd party character, Pacman or Crash Bandicoot or Spyro would be the first ones that come off the top of my head. I'd like Snake to return but a lot of people are doubting it. And they might still keep it at 2 3rd party characters as well.

I would be so happy if more 3rd party characters were added, ESPECIALLY Spyro. I would absolutely play the **** out of any SSB game including Spyro. And hey, if they added Cynder to the lineup too, even better.

I'm also just going to state that I'm relieved Lucario's back. I thought for sure that he was going to get cut or replaced by Zoroark or something.

Post Nintendo Direct update:
-you can play as either male or female Wii Fit Trainer and Little Mac will have a retro outfit as a costume choice. Not sure if male/female Wii Fit Trainers will be counted as separate players but if they are, I guess we have some more clones.
-Yoshi, Charizard(not Pokemon Trainer, Ivysaur, or Squirtle), Sheik(separate from Zelda), and ZSS(separate from standard Samus) return. Zelda and Sheik have new B-down moves.
-Greninja is a new playable character
-Smash run will be a 3DS exclusive new mode. Several enemies from Subspace Emissary and Nintendo Games will appear, including Chandelure.
-Lucario and Charizard seem to Mega Evolve for their final smash
-Olimar now only has 3 Pikmin max following him around.
-Many new and returning Poke Ball Pokemon were announced including Meowth, Metagross, Staryu, Entei, Keldeo, Victini, and Xerneas. Also a separate item, the Master Ball, will be the only Poke Ball that releases legendary Pokemon.

So hyped for the games. The fact that the 3ds version is coming out 1st is a terrible idea though. They should want to push more Wii u sales. And Samus is still blatant eye candy, unfortunately. Also, PLAYABLE GRENINJA. Great choice, imo. If forms were still in, I could also see Aegislash in that slot.

Well it's not necessarily a bad idea since that means people with 3DS's (me) only have to wait a few more months. Also they're waiting for Winter for Wii U because of holiday season shopping.

Yeah, I think that Thanatos would be a much better fit than Palutena. We need more villains, he's funny, and has an amazing assortment of moves. Other than that, I was quite impressed by Nintendo's presentation this year. We have a clear winner of E3.

I watched the video live, and was impressed. People seem to be complaining that Lucina is just a Marth clone, but it's more than that. Of all the character clones they've made in the past, Lucina is the first female one. I think Nintendo is making a conscious effort to ensure a larger percentage of female and androgynous characters in the roster and increase the game's audience. The Wii Fit Trainer, the Villager, the Miis, and now Robin offer both gender options, while newcomers like Rosalina and Palutena are just as welcome. While only Sheik and Samus stray from the ever-present 'princess' stereotype, it's still great that we can show future generations of gamers that women can be just as good at beating the crap out of dinosaurs as men are.

Anyway, they just leaked a probably legit video of the final roster. I can see why they kept these newcomers hidden, they're all either awful or unnecessary. I shall now rant about most of them, so stop reading now if you are skeptical or don't want spoilers.

Ganondorf has the same moveset
It would have made so much more sense to give the almighty Ganondorf a moveset that better captures how he acts in the Zelda games. Then F-Zero's main antagonist, Black Shadow, could have joined in the fray with his old one, providing more exposure for that franchise. But, they blew it.

No Ice Climbers
Frost will be sad to hear this. They were very unique, and many liked playing as the cute couple in previous games. The devs were problably just too lazy to program them, as I'm almost positive they're more complicated than all the other characters.

Xenoblade's Shulk is playable
EDIT: This one is official
Bah. I didn't like Xenoblade nearly as much as Last Story, but that's not the problem here. The problem is that Shulk is such a bland character, despite being the protagonist. He's just some dude who figured out how to get a magic sword to work. Out of all seven playable characters in the game, I used him the least. Fiora, on the other hand, is a badass android chick with shoulder mounted laser drones who duel-wields huge daggers. Why is she not playable instead?

Bowser Jr. is playable
We needed more villains, but not this one. He even fights in his stupid clown car like a wimp. Should have been King K. Rool in this slot.

Duck Hunt Dog is playable
W-W-WHY??? At least Wii Fit Trainer can kick stuff, what possibly could have motivated Sakurai to do this? I cannot comprehend this madness.

So I played that demo, and I got close to suicide when I noticed that Jigglypuff wasn't available. Then, following, my habits, I grabbed Pikachu, and the joystick slipped out of my thumb's grab and I just died.

Seriously, the controls are horrifyingly bad. It was like "Pikachu, nooo!" everytime I tried to do a side attack. I guess I'll need to build a device that will encourage the joystick to visit the sides of the hole sometimes.

Ps. Young Link is in the 3DS version.

I'm looking forward to playing it online with the people on my friends list