I know its everybody's go-to argument "why not keep all the characters" but lets be real for a second. Transitioning from Melee to Brawl, 4 characters were cut. Then from Brawl to SSB4, another 5 got removed. To be fair, 3 of Melee's and 1 of Brawl's returned in SSB4, but they were previously removed. My question is, if and when SSB5 rolls out, who do you think will be cut from the roster?

If I had to follow the trend and pick 4 characters to cut, I would have to go with Lucina, Rosalina, Wii Fit Trainer, and Cloud. Lucina mainly because Im getting fed up with all these FE characters and she seems the most unnecessary. Rosalina seems very forced along with her appearance in most other recent mario games. Wii Fit Trainer seems like she wont have any relevance once the Wii brand dies off and is a horrible character none the less. As for Cloud, I feel like he will be the Snake of this SSB and leave the roster due to not fitting in with the rest of the cast.

What about bayonetta she dosent fit with the rest of the ssb cast

Half of those damn FE characters. Don't get me wrong, they're cool but there are WAY too many of them.

We need them all and another 5 newcomers that are from FE! 

Lucina, Dark Pit, and Doc. They'll become skins instead.

I think characters that are most likely gonna get removed are Dr. Mario, Dark Pit, and Lucina, due to the nature of their existance in Smash Wii U.

I also doubt that Ryu and Cloud will make a return, unless Sakurai (assuming he doesn't stay true to his word) really pushes for them.

All of the DLC characters. Though if Nintendo maintains good terms with Platinum and Capcom (which is pretty likely) I can see Bayonetta and Ryu (and Mega Man) staying.

Others I see getting removed are Lucina, Dr. Mario, Dark Pit.

27 of the 39 Fire Emblem characters.

Other than that though, I don't think there are any newcomers to 4 that I would be too sad to see go in 5. In fact I completely expect all the 3rd party ones to be gone in 5.

Genuinely think it would be a shame to get rid of Wii Fit Trainer. The "Wii" series is one of the biggest selling of all time and as such it needs a representative. Wii Fit Trainer fits the bill and as such an important part of Nintendo history should stay. I don't think I need to make the Fire Emblem point - but I guess I just did by even mentioning Fire Emblem.

Rosie is going nowhere. She's simply the next A-list Mario rep because of how popular she has been since Galaxy. Wii Fit probably isn't leaving because of the Rob/G&W trend.

The key here is that there probably won't be a Smash 5 for another seven years. They're going to port Smash U/3DS over and add four or five characters and make Smash Bros. For NX. With a year or two max left before launch and Nintendo KNOWING they need a home run launch for real this time, there's no way they're going to start fresh on a Smash game and have it ready without delay.

So if we get a PROPER Smash 5 on their 10th gen platform, yeah, I can see Cloud getting cut by then, and probably Bayo along with the clones. Other than that, though? We're probably just gonna have them all stay. Maybe Ike goes because Roy is back for good, maybe they cut Robin or Corrin for the next Fire Emblem character of the month, etc., but looking at how Sakurai got all of this done in two years (minus the DLC characters), I can't see him ever going back on that. The only two cut characters left are Pichu and Wolf; Wolf could easily be back in Smash 5, Pichu is gone for good because joke. ICs are likely back for Smash NX next year.

All of that said, you can never be sure with Sakurai. Unless it's more FE characters, then apparently you can be.