Yeah sure I'll go through them Rubang. Basically it works like this. On the Smash Bros. dojo website, any update relating to a character has a franchise icon. A good recent example of this is Lucas's page. http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/index.html

If you right click the icon in his update and select "view image" you get this hosted link http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/images/icon/world_b_07.gif

As you can see, at the end of the link is a number. You can exchange that number to get other franchise icons. For example, if you switch that 07 to an 08 you get the Pokeball for Pokemon. http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/images/icon/world_b_08.gif

Now, these Franchise icons are then collected and listed according to their numbers.

1: Smash Bros Logo (Smash Bros.)
2: “DK” Logo (Donkey Kong)
3: Great Fox Emblem (Star Fox)
4: Warp Star (Kirby)
5: “F-Zero” Logo
6: Screw Attack (Metroid)
7: Earth (Earthbound)
8: Pokeball (Pokemon)
9: Triforce (Legend of Zelda)
10: Mushroom (Mario)
11: Egg (Yoshi)
12: Sword (Fire Emblem)
13:
14: Eggplant (Ice Climber)
15: Leaf (Animal Crossing)
16: “W” (WarioWare)
17: FOXHOUND/Kojima Productions Emblem (Metal Gear)
18: Bow & Arrow (Kid Icarus)

No Franchise icon is ever given without character representation. Now notice on this list all icons 1-14 are veteran franchises. All icons 15 and up are new franchises. With this we can figure out a lot. For example, if we ever get a franchise icon at 20, we will know not only is there a 20 but also a 19.

Because there is a hole in 13, and only one veteran franchise that hasn't been revealed, it would make sense that 13 is Game and Watch. You'll also notice that the franchises on either side of 13 are the two other franchises that were introduced in Melee: Fire Emblem and Ice Climbers. This again is further evidence that Game & Watch is returning.

Anyway, it's an interesting list and although it doesn't give anything definite it certainly does offer some insight into future updates and character inclusions in the game.

Thanks Bacon and Naznatips (and silentwolf)...interesting read.

^Of course, the 18 does also bring speculation on whether or not any more franchises will appear.

I don't know if that should be taken as a compliment or an insult

Very true.  The fact that we do only have one easily identifiable hole in the currently revealed list means we aren't sure if there will be anymore new franchises at all.  Much less the ones that many people want like Sonic. 

lol wolf...well bacon was the originator...or first messenger since it probably came from another forum....naz paraphrased it (wish I would have waited for the summary rather than traipsing back to page 66) and you brought the whole thing up...so compliments and thanks to all.

Thanks naznatips.

DonWii, didn't Sakurai say they'd have 2 or 3 3rd party characters? That means there's at least one new franchise left. Unless he was jerking our chain. But I think that the poll they had in Japan pretty much confirmed Sonic but they didn't want to announce it before Mario & Sonic at the Olympics. I think they wanted Sega to get some good publicity with that game first, and I don't think they'll announce Sonic until right around when the game and the TV advertisements come out. Maybe a week before, to pump everybody up. And then there's maybe even another one.

I know, I was just joking around.

* I can't seem to find the article that talked about the third party characters AND how Sakurai had said Online would be "bare bones" (for naz)

However, I do remember him saying that IF they add more third party characters, it would probably be 1 or 2 more, and they would be from their closer third party developers- Capcom, Sega and/or Namco-Bandai.

I don't deserve any credit. I had to have Bacon explain it to me in the first place haha. I was just moving it up further in the topic basically. Bacon is the one who enlightened us all about it.

As far as the 3rd party character, the quote from 1UP is "The reveal of Solid Snake does mean they're contemplating other non-Nintendo characters, but the characters must have appeared on a Nintendo platform at some point, and they're only considering one or two more additions in this category." http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3151198

1UP got this story from a blogger on the Smash forums who had been translating Sakurai's comments. His translations were accurate according to several sources so that's not an issue. However, the statement seems pretty ambiguous. "They're only considering one or two more additions in this category." So at most 1 or 2 more 3rd party characters (other than Snake) and they aren't certain. Personally, I think Sonic has a good shot.