48 characters, that means there are about 23 characters to be revealed.

I predicted, at least, 35. I was wishing for, at least, 40.

I predicted 35 at first, but raised that to 40 recently. 48 is impressive, but I don't particularly trust this magazine as a source. Can anyone even think of 48 reasonable inclusions? No things that are already confirmed not in the game like Mega Man and no one who is completely unreasonable like Sora, Banjo, etc.

Ness!!!???




Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

seriously 48?!? If that translation is accurate, that is insane. We've only scratched the surface. I almost can't believe that.

I would suggest that you shouldn't believe that.  It's doubtful that a random newspaper would have an inside scoop that Famitsu would not.  

Supposedly, this image is from Oita Godo-Shinbun, a Japanese newspaper.

Reasonable characters?

Luigi
JigglyPuff
Captain Falcon
Marth
Falco
Game & Watch
Mewto
Ganondorf

That is eight already.

New ones?

Krystal
Majoras Mask Link
Lucario (I'm hoping)
Animal Crosser

Others?

Viewtiful Joe (Probably Not, if no Mega Man)
Ridley (Probably not)
Geno (A ton of people want him)
Another Mother Character?
Another F-Zero Character?

WTF Character?

Captain N (Hellz Yeah)
Miis (Hellz Yeah)

GENO! Now I'm almost certain that it's Geno. He is a property of Squareso... Enix, despite being on mostly-Mario game!

Raichu!!!!
nah just kidding

Also, what if the 48 counts ZZS, Sheik, 3 Pokemon, as individual characters?