I disagree on the point that Fire Emblem can't get more popular. Awakening to me looks like the beginning of a new heavy-hitting franchise for Nintendo. But I guess this is based on perspective and our own personal experiences (I got many of my friends to purchase Awakening and they thought it wasn't for them until they bought it, played it, and loved it) Yes, I agree to that other franchises should get the spotlight but these characters from Fire Emblem havn't affected their chances, it seems like Robin was planned from day 1 and like I stated before Lucina was probably so easy to put into a slot that it didn't affect development at all for other newcomers. The Robin comment was more directed at Pavolink than anyone else. Also this is definatley not the last announcement, if it is then I agree it's not a fitting end for the reveals. But Sakurai said he was NEARING the end of the newcomer videos, I'd expect at least another Smash Bros. Direct with another couple Newcomer reveals. As Fire Emblem getting the spotlight once more, I beleive it deserves it. Maybe not as much as other underrated and unknown IP, but it still to me is one of franchises that deserves to be up there with Zelda and Mario.

Depends on how you mean by heavy hitting.  It's been in the US for 10 years and finally hit a homerun-ish sales, but I credit that to the drought of games on the 3DS compared to the original DS.  This' is why I think Lucina havving her own slot is a bad idea, it took zero effort to make her she's the exact same as Marth,  and adds absolutely nothing to the game, and yet she get's a slot where there could've been a newcomer from a  new franchise.   I do think this hurts their chances since that was the last video, the game's out in less than 3 months, we'll get one more video tops.  

  Another reason I see this as wrong is because there's only 2 Metroid characters, and it's tied with Zelda now.  That's tied for third among most reps.  WTF.  Literally so little bit of people know these guys, and they get 4 characters?  That's a bit dumb if you ask me.   They're losing valuble money they could be using advertising Xenoblade and other franchises that are less known, but could appeal to far more people if given the oppurtunity  Fire Emblem is a  good franchise, but I don't think there's a lot of room for growth, which is why I think it excells as a portable game.

Let's be honest, all three of them are very similar and 2 are complete clones.  I've no problem with the male robin/female robin slot, but Lucina looks to be more similar to Marth than Mario is to Luigi.   At least toon link is small and fast and doesn't combo badly, and Ike is a slower style Marth, they both have charge attacks good range and a counter, and a smash that kills almost instantly.   Adding another one to the rooster adds zero to the game, and I'm against it strongly.  Robin looks cool however, and I look forward to playing as her.   Since these are the last people we'll see in Smash, I'm dissappointed.  

I'd credit that recent sucess to the quality and acessability of awakening, as well as good marketing. To me it seems like nintendo want Fire Emblem to become a major franchise. From what I can tell, Lucina was put in late in development, at a point where all the the other newcomers arriving were already final. I'm pretty sure Lucina is just filler. Then we currently expect different things from nintendo, you expect maximum one video, while that is the mininmum I expect, so this announcment means different things to us.

The way I see it (and I know many others won't see it this way) Is that Fire Emblem has 3.5 characters in smash. Robin was character 3, and Lucina is basicallly a complete clone added in late in development long after all the other newcomers were set in stone. Yes, there are literally 4 characters, but no other franchise (in my eyes) is getting shunned an oppritunity by their inclusion than they already had when develpoment of the game began. I agree, 4 reps is one to many, but the 4th character hasn't hurt another franchise in order to get in.

Well, if we're being honest, then..... no, Ike and Marth are about as similar as Fox and Donkey Kong. The former's a slow heavy hitter with wide-arc attacks, the latter's a light speedster who does moderate damage but can (and basically must) chain attacks into combos. Aside from Counter, they literally have zero common moves, and trying to utilize one's playstyle with the other is foolish at best.

I'm going to continue being honest, and wonder aloud whether you've actually played Brawl for more than a few minutes. I honestly can't grasp how you can say the two are even remotely similar, especially when you imply that Toon Link is somehow less of a clone from his progenitor!

Ike and Marth are similar, they just have different powers/speeds.  If someone where to take Ike and increase his speed and down he's power, he would be so much like Marth it's ridiculous.   They both have charged attacks also.

And fyi, I said they were similar and that toon link was a clone character, but not as much as a clone when compared to Lucina. 

I know you said quality, but I disagree, the older Fire Emblem games are better imo, though I'm not gonna argue that, and yes acessabilty means a lot.  Fire Emblem has been a major franchise for some time, it has 14 games, it just isn't that popular, when compared to other Nintendo I.Ps, and a lot of it's fame was garnered through smash and advertising.

Sakurai said this was the last stash video.   Thing is though, there being 3.5 fire emblem and all 4 of them are using up character slots.  I do think the fourth is hurting, cause like I said Sakurai said he didn't want the game to have too many characters, and since the 3DS version will have the same amount, and god know's there's a huge space limit on that thing, I can't see there being any more than 2-3 characters left at most.  Still there's no new Metroid or Zelda character, one new Mario charactor, and only 2 Star fox reps.   One less from Brawl.

...and since the 3DS version will have the same amount, and god know's there's a huge space limit on that thing, I can't see there being any more than 2-3 characters left at most....

I don't want to be dismissive, but I literally don't know what to say. Aside from Counter, I have zero idea how you could legitimately reach that conclusion. I'm speechless.