I think Smash will be delayed. Third party characters have now been included, Snake and Sonic. This may mean that other third party developers may want their famous character to appear in Brawl. It could lead to more sales for the games that the character is featured in. For example, Capcom may request to have Megaman included in Brawl. People who have never played a Megaman game may use him in Brawl and develop an affinity to him. This could lead them to purchase Megaman games.
The delay could also be because Nintendo is trying to get more Japanese people to use the internet by providing resources to help them connect to the internet. Or it could be to flesh out the online components of the game. I still think it's to add more characters because of third party request. This could be unlockable characters or clones.
Remember, Nintendo is being more open to 3rd parties like never before and desires a more fruitful relationship with them.
If Nintendo is successful at the moment, it’s because they are good, and I cannot blame them for that. What we should do is try to be just as good.----Laurent Benadiba
