The guy who runs the "Layton for Smash" twitter account had noticed that someone had entered Professor Layton's voice actor into the imdb page for Smash Bros for 3DS, and sent a tweet to the voice actor, asking about it. This was months ago. At the time, the voice actor, Christopher R Miller, simply dismissed it as false.

But suddenly, in the last day or so, he responded again to the same tweet. Here's a screenshot:

Note that this isn't just a photoshop - while Miller's twitter account has been basically hidden, and the tweet itself deleted, the conversation around it still remains, apparently. I'm not skillful enough with Twitter to actually find them, but various people have noted that they can confirm it.

Christopher R Miller doesn't do any other Nintendo-relevant voices, so Layton is the only plausible explanation.

Of course, that doesn't mean he'll be playable. Technically, it doesn't even confirm that it's happening... but it's all certainly interesting as a possibility.

Some people have been observing that it's about time for another Smash Direct. Could we be about to see some new DLC fighters, potentially including some more third-party characters?

Anyway... discuss.

On topic: Layton would be a seriously odd choice. I mean, in the Professor Layton games, you basically just listen to him talk (or read what he says), solve puzzles, and watch a scene here or there. His games don't exactly lend themselves to giving him something that resembles a viable move set.

Off topic: I can't wait until this DLC train dries up. I've been tactical about my DLC purchasing, ignoring the dumb Mii stuff, and buying discounted cumulative content codes from other people who bought a big pack for Wii U and didn't need the 3DS stuff. In the end though, I don't like buying DLC, and although I knew Nintendo would get into it eventually, Smash 4 already feels kind of overcrowded.

I'm guessing you've never played the games. You may not control it, but Layton has shown himself to be a highly skilled fighter, both with traditional and unconventional weapons. People have suggested him using the slot-machine gun he made in The Unwound Future/The Lost Future, his rapier from The Diabolical Box/Pandora's Box, his foil from The Miracle Mask, and the pipe he uses in The Eternal Diva (movie). Other items from various Layton games would also make sense in his moveset, too. One really interesting moveset is suggested here. And then there's the Laytonmobile, and a heap of other things he's made or used in various games, like catapults, gliders, toy robots, hamsters, etc.

Other people have suggested moves directly inspired by puzzles that appear often in Layton - matchsticks, sliding blocks, etc. And there's even an opportunity to add an extra reference, by having him also use tetris pieces (which appeared in a few puzzles).

Besides, you'd probably say the same thing about Captain Falcon, Wii Fit Trainer, Villager, Mr Game & Watch, Rosalina & Luma, and ROB.

I guess I'm just not attached to unconventional choices. Personally, I think Wii Fit Trainer, Game & Watch, and ROB are all super dumb characters. And I suppose I never played enough Layton. I got my fill of the style of game with the Curious Village and never went back for more. I can at least acknowledge that he would have been a good choice if the goal of Smash 4 wasn't apparently inserting as many characters as humanly possible into one game.

My main problem is that I don't understand why people are so desperate to add more characters to a roster that is already seriously overcrowded. How many characters does a person need to have that they'll only use a few times before shelving them for good for the one or two regulars they tend to stick to? I seriously hope that in the next Smash, they get the roster down to a respectable size and trim the fat and general fan service. Does anybody realize we are already sitting at over 50 characters while they're begging for more?

To put it into perspective:

N64 - 12 characters

Gamecube - Natural evolution to 26 characters with some fat to trim

Wii - Up to 35 characters, more clone issues, really starting to stack up on crap tier characters

Wii U/3DS - Currently at 52+ characters, depending on your attachment to Mii fighters. The vast majority will only be used when necessary for unlocks or otherwise.

Why in the blazes do we need Layton or anybody else added to this ridiculously large roster? I know more DLC characters are coming though, so I guess if it has to be somebody, I'd rather Layton than yet another Fire Emblem character.

That might be how YOU play it, but not everybody does. I like to mix things up, and play with a variety of characters.

I'm not trying to be the very best at one character. I have a few favourites that I'll play more than others, but I play with all of them, for the enjoyment of playing with all of them.

Almost anybody I know that plays any fighting game at all, whether it be Smash, Street Fighter, Soul Calibur, what have you, they find a character or two they're good with and tend to use them essentially always. Yeah, a different character may get used here or there, but most people focus on getting better with a select few characters, both to take on higher tier in game challenges, and to be able to compete online as is the case with any fighting game basically from the past decade. Now YOU may not play that way, but I assure you, you are in the minority. Or maybe you're just assuming you use more characters actively than you really do. Even then, there is no way even playing that way that you can say you fully utilize a 50+ character roster and that it needs more characters just because your fan service needs haven't been entirely fulfilled.

So then ... uh ... don't use the other characters? No one's forcing you to use the 40 some other characters. 

When I buy a sports game, I don't play as every team, but I want them all in there. 

Good thing sports teams aren't fighters, and that the only real work that goes into balancing a sports game is making sure the engine reflects the real world ability of the players being represented. In the case of sports games, more equals good because, well, you can't exactly cut a team because you decided its overall stats are too close to another team. That's not how making sports games works. In the case of fighting games, you may notice this if you look around, but it tends to be the case that less is more. Unnecessary bloat leads to redundant move sets, generally useless characters, and balance issues that take endless tweaking because of the sheer number of move sets to work with, despite how similar many of them end up being.

The tl;dr is that your comparison kind of sucks. :p

Edit: It's worth noting that sports games are basically entirely fan service. They're making it so people can play as their favorite teams to smash the teams they hate. In the case of fighter games, they should not operate off of fan service, but rather, the best logical choices for keeping the game balanced. I'd rather a roster of 20 well made characters than a roster of 50+ that exist almost entirely to appeal to the effort of trying to make everybody happy all of the time.

So then don't play as those characters ... like I don't understand why you feel you need to play as them. I don't like Vega in Street Fighter. Never have. Used him like once. I don't care that he's in the game though, that's just ridiculously anal retentive over a silly thing. So what if you think a character is "useless", no one is forcing you to play as them. 

And fan service is a large part of Smash Brothers. 

I still doubt it but stranger things have happened, like Wii fit trainer. We all know we'd rather have Wright and Maya anyway...but this would be cool.

Taking this news with quite a bucket of salt however