58 characters, with at least 50 totally unique characters. Includes all the Nintendo icons, and third party icons like Cloud, Mega Man, Ryu, Pac Man, and even some surprising additions like Bayonetta.

Is there a single fighting game or crossover game with a roster that big and especially that balanced ?

EDIT : well, I learned that poll are made after the thread is actually done, weird

Of course

Can't think of a roster anywhere close to as impressive as this one. I'm curious just how many combined sales the represented franchises have had over the years... Methinks it's quite a few.

The fact that Mega Man and Shulk were in this game were enough for me, but to have Ryu, Cloud, Bayonetta, as well as the return of Roy and Mewtwo, this is undeniably the best roster in any fighting game.

If it can be considered a fighting (which I do), then yes.

DBZ games(?)

They have like 100 or more characters, one of them is Goku and they also have...Krillin

What other games are we comparing?

Smash 4 is in tough competition with Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (or 3 if you want) for that kind of title. It all depends on taste I guess since not everyone is a fan of fighting games or of a particular series. To me, though, to have Mario, Cloud, Ryu, Mega Man, Sonic, Link, Donkey Kong, and Pac-Man alone is incredible. Smash 4 basically created dream match-ups that we wanted to see for video game characters. Cloud vs. Link and Mega Man vs. Mario vs. Pac-Man vs. Sonic are two of the many matches that kids of the 80s and 90s would have never believed to be true in this one game. The roster has 58 characters, from old and recent Nintendo games (with the exception of Cloud, though could be argued to represent Final Fantasy's legacy w/Nintendo in general). I find it hard for this particular game to be matched from other fighting games not named Marvel vs. Capcom.

DBZ: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 had a preeeeeettty nice roster.

Nope. where's Toad?