https://boards.4chan.org/v/thread/425199581

For those who might not want to read the thing, some basic notes with a lot more in the link. 

• Bomberman was meant to be playable, but Konami was Konami and Konami is the worst. Belmont, per this leak, was scraped very early on in favor of trying to get Bomberman. Belmont being a Bowser Jr. with each skin a different Belmont
• Ballot is primary source of in game characters, new ones like Spring Man and Decidueye would be DLC
• Krystal was also a cut character
• Shadow is in game as a semi-clone, not a full on echo fighter, same with Dixie. Echo fighters are the characters currently being put in game as bonuses
• K-Rool, Issac, Ashley, Kos-Mos, Geno, Shovel Knight, Chibi-Robo added in game. Square easier than Konami for Geno, Shovel Knight took time to get Sakurai to go for it, Chibi-Robo involved arm twisting. Issac was popular in Europe and Ashley in Japan
• Bandanna Dedede and Paper Mario considered but scrapped, as was Waluigi. Waluigi was scrapped for the same reason Meta Knight and Dedede were not in Melee (Sakurai feels bias would be in play as he loves Waluigi, and has been disturbed by the post Smash Waluigi fury)

I have no personal preference either way on the leak's validity. I just feel like sharing it if it hasn't been shared already. 

Watch this leak be real :P

In all seriousness, when Sakurai said he hopes we don’t expect too many newcomers, im inclined to believe him.

He’s worked so hard on these games and I’m sure getting everyone back wasn’t easy as some would like to assume.

I fail to see how Konami would not allow Bomberman seeing as Nintendo helped Konami with Super Bomberman R. If they really did this, all I have to say is...wow Konami...wow.

But then again, the roster is decided very early on so Ultimate's roster could have been decided well before Bomberman R was a thing. Huh. I see no reason why Kos Mos would be in this game unless maybe a Xenosaga collection for Switch was on the way, which is possible seeing that Namco is on Nintendo's good side and Monolith made those games.

Chibi Robo...why? He should be an assist trophy if anything. Not a playable character. As far as Geno goes, I'm sure Square would be more than willing to allow Geno at this point. And it'd be sweet if the reason why Geno is in the game is because one of those secret Switch games Square is talking about is...Super Mario RPG 2! But who knows. I'd personally would have taken Crono over Geno, but yeah he's another Swordsman.

K. Rool would be nice, Isaac should have been in Brawl, so I'm all for these. Ashley...is she really even that popular? And Shovel Knight would mark the first western representative in Smash...that'd be interesting for sure.

Edit: Never mind, it seems that Bomberman was more of a representation/moveset disagreement than anything.

Still no Goku?

in all seriousness, i believe this leak. or at the very least, i believe that the leaker did get this from somewhere, and its not just made up. some details are iffy, but realistically its one mans word about many decisions between many different people, obviously he cant relay everything with 100% accuracy. that being said, some points feel a bit fabricated. Bayonetta being chosen against the results of the ballot is something im not buying. im also not buying that Sakurai doesnt want to add any new video game characters to the game. Sakurai outright said he loved Xenoblade 2 and for that alone i feel like Rex and Pyra are a guarantee.

Yay Spring Man!!!!

I'm skeptical of leaks as always, but this is.. mild/reasonable for a leak. (Shovel Knight is absolutely fucking not in this game though. No way some western indie that Japan completely ignored is in). Chibi-Robo being playable would make my fucking day though

- Bayonetta did not actually win the ballot or do particularly well in any region. Nintendo and Platinum Games wanted her to be added and the fanservice characters to be saved for the Switch game.

it was one of the last lines of the leak. also, any leak has the potential to be fake. 

1 year and 2 months after launch... Shovel Knight Treasure trove is currently ranked no.27 in the Jap Switch Eshop rankings that's 27th place out of 608 titles on the system over there.

Mind me asking what the "completely ignored" is based on? Since it's been selling enough to keep it charting for 14 months there

but but... what about the loli skins for all the female characters? MY HOPES AND DREAMS DASHED AGAINST THE ROCKS!