I was re-watching the latest Smash Direct when I starded thinking about something: both of the new characters are representative of a specific generation of Nintendo hardware, respectively NES for Simon Belmont and SNES for King K. Rool, then I realized the other two brand new fighters we got, Ridley and Inkling, can also be considered representatives of GameCube (aka the peak of the Metroid series) and Wii U. I know some of you are already writing comments about my tinfoil hat, but, doesn't it make sense from a marketing standpoint ? Like what's the best way to make a game appealing to the highest ammount of people, other than adding a very iconic character from each generation ? 

If you think about it, following this strategy you get an explanation to the crowd reactions to the different character reveals (I know I'm stretching it and people didn't go crazy for Ridley at E3 because Nintendo also had a poor showing but let's just speculate before we get to the meat of my prediction): the Inkling and Ridley trailers didn't set the world on fire since they are from the two worst selling Nintendo consoles, thus being less memorable to the players watching each presentation, on the other hand NES and SNES were both successful pieces of hardware and their representatives had a much more positive reaction, so much so that the general opinion of the game seems to have changed following the latest Direct, going as far as removing almost all debate about this game being a port or not.

But this is a prediction, so let's get to it: we've got 4 consoles covered so far, with 4 (or more !) missing. Then, why did I mention only two in the title ? Well that's because two are the most likely ones: the N64 and Wii, who certainly need to get representatives, and I want to go as far as to predict that the N64 rep will be Skull Kid, I know, many people already predicted his addition following the Moon reveal as an assist trophy, but come on, nobody made up such a crazy reasoning for it. Then we have a Wii rep, that's quite tricky, I myself don't have specific ideas, perhaps it might be Karate Joe from Rhythm Heaven due to DK imitating his pose in K. Rool's reveal trailer, but I think Nintendo will go with someone a little more recognizable for their most popular console (maybe Travis Touchdown ?). Now, why did I mention other two consoles ? well, that's because I'm doubtful, first I'm doubtful about Ridley, I think he might just've been added to kill the meme and that could lead to another GC rep possibly joining the roster; the other console is the Switch itself, which might not get its own rep due to how young the console is, but still has a few characters to draw from (i.e. Rex&Pyra and SpringMan who were both reequested by fans).

But Luke, you said "or more!" well, that's right, while we're done with Home Consoles (unless someone expects Red Wario from the Virtual Boy games) there's still handhelds to cover, I don't think it's reasonable to expect a new fighter for each handheld system, the number of additions would simply be too high, but I think there's a chance for a few reps for the smaller devices aswell, If I had to guess I'd say a GBA, DS and 3DS rep are the most likely, in the form of Phoenix Wright, Professor Layton and Incineroar (adding a Pokémon like in all Smash Games).

My basic prediction is that we'll get 3 characters, one for N64 (Skull Kid), one for Wii (no guess) and one for 3DS (Incineroar/other Pokémon) to which we might see added other 4 characters, depending on how hard Sakurai and his team want to work on this game, still I'm already satisfied with the actual roster: Ridley, my main, is already confirmed.

What do you think about all this nonesense ? Do you think it's reasonable to expect more than 3 other newcomers for Smash Ultimate ? who would you like to be added to the game if the newcomers had to be generation-representatives ?

My gosh i would LOVE skull kid as a character. Would definitely main him.
I would like to see that 4 champions from Botw as assists trophies tho... I thought they would implement them to Link's moveset but no. The have a New Donk City stage why not assist trophies from Botw :(

There will definitely be more characters, but I don't buy your specific predictions or the underlying rationale on which it is based. Instead, I think we will see more interesting third party characters now, rather than first or second party ones. I'd like them to be bold and have Solaire or someone else from the DS universe, or a Minecraft tie-in character (not my preference but would make sense). Not saying my predictions are more sensible, by the way, but felt the DS Amiibo could be a sign of more DS stuff to come and would be an interesting character to see, with rolling and shield gameplay.

I think Skull Kid is quite likely for a number of reasons. We've yet to see him as an assist trophy, but Ghirahim and Midna have both been confirmed as assists, while the Moon has been added as a new assist. With the Termina stage and Young Link back in the game, Skull Kid would also fit the 'rivals' theme of the game, and could be a rival for Young Link - who wasn't in the rivals video (the art before the K Rool reveal showed Ganon, Link and Zelda facing off). I think there's plenty of hints that Skull Kid has been promoted from assist trophy to fighter.

I don't really buy your reasoning about console representatives; especially not in Ridley's case. Ridley was simply a much-requested character going back to before Brawl's release. I think it's more likely we'll see requested characters (Simon Belmont, Ridley, K Rool) and assists being promoted (Little Mac was promoted from assist to fighter for Smash 4, Dark Samus has been promoted this time to echo fighter). On that note, one other character I'm sure we're getting is Shadow as an echo for Sonic - Shadow is another of the pre-existing assist trophies not among the 40 confirmed for Ultimate so far. Skull Kid and Shadow already have stage representation in the game, too, assuming the 103 listed stages are the final tally for the game.

The other potential new character would be Isaac, from Golden Sun, who was an assist in Brawl but was dropped from 4. I don't think this is as likely - though interestingly, Sakurai tweeted a Rathalos screenshot that was startingly close to the Golden Sun battle-screen, as has been picked up on by fans around the net. It would be a surprising inclusion, given his assist was dropped from 4 and Golden Sun is effectively a dead franchise at this point, but Isaac is another character fans have been requesting.

In terms of the number of extra characters we'll see, I don't know if we'll get too many more. Maybe a few more echoes - I'd like to see Black Bull as an echo for Captain Falcon and Medusa as an echo for Palutena. It'll be interesting to see what kind of DLC happens.

Of course there is atleast two new characters, we are only in August. Skull Kid is probable, and he is really cool so i'm fine with it.

I'm going to be pissed if Incineroar is chosen over Decidueye.

I’m sure there will be lots more than two... I’m thinking there will be quite a few dlc characters after launch...

My prediction only concerns content realized before the release of the game, DLC doesn't count (even though I could totally see Nintendo pulling a Mewtwo 2 with Skull Kid)

Add icon Sora

Im hoping for someone like Rayman, Crash or Spyro. The last two mostly cause I doubt Sony will make another All Stars xD