Ok, so there's the "no western 3rd party characters allowed"
Crash will put an end on this!

Goku's English VA confirmed he had not done any work for the game, nor has he been told he will. At the very least, he won't be in the main game.

I wouldn't say Bayonetta, because her games actually came out prior and Nintendo had a really close relationship with Platinum games. Cloud on the other hand... that's a fair point.

I... will... concede... that... there... is... a... some... less... than... inkling...of... a... chance... thathemightgetin.

That doesnt mean anything. And if he were a VA would he even announce he is doing the game? I mean he wasn't in ssb4 either and he did VA for lucario in ssbb

I estimate there's a 1% chance of Goku being DLC, cause why not

He still qualifies as a video game character.  Although for some reason I think Master Chief is a possibility now.  But only based on some recent good relations between MS and Nintendo in articles.  MS was visiting Japan I believe earlier this year with discussions, and who knows what all they were doing.

It means a lot more than you're willing to admit.

I'd love Goku in Smash. I'd like Smash to move away from mostly Nintendo characters and more just gaming characters. I'm happy the newer Smash bros include lots of third party characters.

About the whole cloud thing, it wasn't as out of selection as you think. FF1~6 was a pretty big thing on nintendo consoles. it was just surprising that CLOUD became the FF rep because he never really had a presence on ninty, but FF, and SE as a whole has been a big presence on ninty consoles.

As others have stated, Goku's potential presence isn't as unprecedented as you probably think. "lol if goku gets in it opens the door for naruto/whatever-rando-who-cares anime crap". No. What other anime character has had a 30+ year history with Nintendo, and overall cultural relevance that transcends weeb stuff? Hell, that's more than a lot of the existing roster. Not to mention the aforementioned consideration of James Bond for the original Smash.

Bandai Namco Studios is co-developing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Why is this relevant? Because they are the actual company in charge of the Dragon Ball franchise.

There's plenty of fuel that would lead to his inclusion; to simply write it off as a meme or silly pipe dream is a grand assumption without knowing the facts.

Now, do I think he'll make the cut? Probably not. In fact, I'd bet he won't even be DLC. But don't act like this is Shrek or something. It is definitely within the realm of possibility. It's just a matter of whether Sakurai is willing to lift the technicality of characters not originating from video games.