Believe this or don't. You'll ultimately see as we get closer to Smash Ultimate's release. For those who are interested in knowing some details about Smash Bros Ultimate, here are some details I've learned from my sources at Nintendo, Bandai Namco and at a few other companies closely associated with Smash Bros and the Smash Ballot.
- As many have figured, the Smash Ballot was indeed used to plan Smash Bros Ultimate. However, the entire concept of the game is using the ballot as a center point. Sakurai is making newly relevant characters a very low priority, so don't expect characters like Decidueye, Spring Man, Rex and Pyra or Edelgard in the base roster, but they may very well be DLC. DLC is not fully decided quite yet. There is one exception to this exclusion of new characters, however. Currently relevant things will appear as things like costumes, music or an occasional stage or Assist Trophy.
- Sakurai originally planned for 12 completely new characters and 2 echo fighters, expecting it to be managable to match the increase from the original to Melee. Legal and business reasons however, meant he had to scrap 2 of these new characters. He is expecting to be done with these new characters by the end of July and will then begin creating as many additional echo fighters as he can before the game goes gold in about 2 months. He is considering newer or more relevant characters like the Octolings, Celica and Alm for these echo characters. Last I heard, expecting to be able to manage including 3-4 additional echo fighters into the roster to compensate for the two cut characters. Due to ratings concerns, Sakurai is not considering characters from M/D rated or more mature T/C rated games as these last minute echo fighters.
- Several 3rd party characters were a struggle to get the rights to use. One of these was Bomberman, who was cut and made an Assist Trophy instead. Bomberman was fairly popular worldwide in the ballot, but Sakurai and Konami couldn't come to an agreement on how to represent Bomberman in Smash Bros with a reasonable moveset and abilities. Sakurai spent several months making changes to Bomberman and trying to figure out a way to make him work and satisfy Konami, but Konami was never satisfied. Sakurai eventually decided to abandon a playable Bomberman after falling months behind schedule, instead submitting a concept for an Assist Trophy that Konami approved without many changes required.
- The other cut character was Krystal who hadn't gotten far into development and was one of the less requested characters from the ballot, so was not a good choice for DLC. Due to being behind schedule, Sakurai chose to scrap her and make her an assist trophy as well, so she'd be included in some way at least.
- The two planned echo fighters were Daisy and Shadow who both had a notable presence in the ballot, but weren't that high, not making the top 10 worldwide (excluding veterans). Sakurai saw the opportunity to base these two on existing characters and thought he'd throw these fanbases a bone. Shadow may end up being a semi-clone due to some requirements from Sega that may make him a little too different for Sakurai to feel comfortable calling him an echo fighter.
- Veterans did very well in the ballot and that fact led to Sakurai deciding to bring every past character back assuming he could secure the rights to certain uncertain characters like Snake.
- Ridley was one of the most popular characters in the ballot and Sakurai decided this time he would figure out how to make Ridley work to give the fans what they wanted.
- Inkling actually did decently in the ballot despite the Mii costumes, which surprised Sakurai a little and secured them a place.
Not changing this part until Saki Amamiya (or Isa Jo) gets into Smash as a playable character
#1 SCUM OF THE EARTH, CAN'T BE DEFEATED, DELETED, OR REPEATED