I agree those characters are the classics, I also like to think all the original characters will make a reappearance, allthough I really doubt the return of Young Link. Perhaps he will show up in Windwaker form though. Seeing Falcon back would be great news! Ganondorf was basically a clone of Falcon. So maybe we will see them both in a double update? I wonder if the site will list all the unlockable characters too, hidden items, extra modes??? That would spoil a lot of the fun. I hope they keep a few surprises for us to find out in the game. What do you guys think?

Y. Link is gone I'm sure.  Ganondorf wasn't meant to be a clone of Falcon.  He was meant to be a sword fighter, but due to time constraints he was given a copy of CF's moves.  He won't be a clone in this game because it doesn't suffer from launchitis like Melee did.  Ganondorf and Shiek were both confirmed to be in the game in an interview with Aonuma.  To save you guys the trouble, the characters who are most likely gone are:

Y. Link
Pichu
Roy
Dr. Mario 

Why would Falcon be gone, but Samurai Goro come as an Assist Character?

None of the N64 fighters are gone.

Ganondorf and Sheik are confirmed to have models in the game. I'm assuming that they'll be playable, but Aonuma didn't say.

And this Animal Crossing thing hasn't made it to GoNintendo, so for the moment I'm filing it under "rumor," but a pretty strong one.

Agreed on both counts, though it's logical that there must be some animal crossing character. It has a series icon.  Never before in Smash has there been a series icon without a character paired with it. 

Good to know Ganondorf will not be a clone character. I want to see him perform some badass ultimate smash moves. And here's hoping Luigi isn't a clone character too.

I wouldnt count Roy and Marth out with Ike being in the game. I wouldn't count out any clone characters for that matter, it only takes a little time to do so and it would be fun for the fans to enjoy playing them again. My guess is that the unlockable characters will be the clone characters: Samus Aran with suit, Pichu, Roy and Marth, Dr. Mario and maybe a few others. Diddy Kong can easily be transformed into Dixie Kong too.

Roy is out, Marth isn't.  Roy was the most recent FE hero at the release of Melee.  Marth is the original FE hero.  Roy will be replaced by Ike as the new most recent FE hero.

The other clones are almost certainly gone except Falco.   Sakurai said he didn't want cloned moves in the game and characters like Pichu, Dr. Mario, and Y. Link are by their very nature clones.  There isn't a very effective way to give them unique moves.    Samus is not an unlockable character... the Zero Suit is just what form she goes in after she uses her final smash.  Samus is still the same Samus she was in the other games.

Luigi is of course returning.  He may have different moves, but he wasn't a clone before... just sort of similar.  Just like the last two games though, Luigi will have to be unlocked.   

Ganondorf with sword would rock.

Luigi is of course returning. He may have different moves, but he wasn't a clone before... just sort of similar. Just like the last two games though, Luigi will have to be unlocked.

Oh sure he was.  He was a clone of Mario slightly re-tooled.  In the original, with the exception of the running A, jumping time/height, and slight special move alterations he was Mario.  In Melee, he was much more different (->+B was very different) and the original differences were more accentuated, but he was still mostly a clone.

He may be crossing the boundary of is/is not a clone with Brawl, but to say he wasn't a clone before is just ignorant--Melee is semi-arguable but the original isn't at all.

Ganondorf. Fighting with his sword for most attacks.

B > Loading one of his famous... Balls of light? :P
B-Down > "Ground Pound" (From final fight in OoT)
B-Forward > ?
B-Up > ?