I'm not really into speculation, especially when it's ultimately quite fruitless when it comes to Nintendo. Arlo calls them "The Kings of Left Field." With Ultimate, I thought it was at least fairly straightforward given the pattern presented by the E3 and August Directs, with all the big requests mostly being done, so I figured that Isaac/Geno/Shadow were a lock, but we got Isabelle/Ken/Incineroar/PIRANHA PLANT instead.
Speculation also doesn't do me much good when your characters have a snowball's chance in hell. I got unbelievably lucky with Dark Samus. I considered that a lost cause after Ridley (who I would've been satisfied with alone), but the circumstantial evidence gave some reason to believe, so I had a little faith. Now, one of my favorite Nintendo characters of all time is actually in Smash, but I'm not expecting Chibi-Robo, Dimentio, or Midna to show up anytime soon.
However, I didn't care much for any of the newcomers in Smash 4, so Ultimate delivering at least two characters for me to be more than excited about was enough to satisfy my wants. I've been a R.O.B. main for over a decade, but I didn't know I wanted him until I played him in Brawl already. Dark Samus and Ridley were two characters I've wanted for a while, and finally, miraculously, got them both.
Even then, I would've been satisfied with just "EVERYONE IS HERE!" since it's exactly what I wanted out of Smash 4 when it got close to being that. I was sold harder than I've ever been sold on a Nintendo game just from the E3 Direct alone, which I've rewatched numerous times. The new characters were just the icing on the cake.
Hence why I've not been very active in this thread since December. I was hoping the general thread would turn from speculation to actual discussion about the game, since my enjoyment of Smash comes from, well, playing the game. I'd rather play the game than agonize over who the next characters might be. Not that I don't care about new characters just because I got mine; rather, I love when other people get their wishes. I didn't care at all about K. Rool, but when he was announced, I thought it was awesome because of how many people wanted him. Same with all the other characters who were announced.
But the DLC announcements are going to come sporadically throughout the year, and waiting months just for one character announcement that's going to have to fit a certain set of criteria isn't something I'm going to invest a lot of attention in. I'll be excited when they do announce things, but it's not going to be on my mind daily.
Still, it was fun here to pass the time while we waited for release. I'd never been part of a Smash pre-release hype cycle before, despite playing and loving the games since 2002. Ultimate was the first game since Halo: Reach back in 2010 that I was intensely anticipating and followed every bit of information and discussion, and I doubt there will be a game like that for me anytime soon.
Glad to be a part of this thread, and glad to be a part of SmashBoards.