Sakurai pretty much confirmed she was included to give Metroid another rep and he also said her inclusion was nice due to the lack of females there were in the roster.
Also as far as females go, Palutena seems incredibly likely to appear, considering all the hints towards her. There is also Dixie Kong as a possibility. Neither would fit into the two categories you stated.
Pretty much every Xenoblade character save for Sharla could be a viable choice for playable character. I definitely wouldn't mind Melia or Seven or Riki, but chances are that unless we get two slots for Xenoblade, they won't be playable.
If Xenoblade gets a character it's definitely going to be Shulk. No franchise has ever had its first rep not be the main character and I doubt they're going to break that pattern.
The others have potential as assist trophies though. I'm not sure who they'd pick though. It depends on whether or not they'd want an attacker, a supporter, or a healer.
Maybe she'll get a degree in Assist Trophying, and move up into Playable Character 101.
I'm legitimately surprised to find out that there are people disappointed that Zelda/Shiek and Samus/Zero Suit have been split up. I thought no one did that, at least not on purpose. Apparently, some people wish that the new moves were turned into ones that used the touchscreen. I can just bet that if that was really the case, the same people would complain that it was being shoehorned in.
"What's out there? What's waiting for me?"Ditto. Who actually liked having to transform mid-match between two or more characters? Why not focus on just one character and one moveset?
Vote. .#Bayonetta 4 Smash![]()
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One of Samus's coworkers from Other M.
I never really transformed between Zelda in Sheik midmatch much. Either I wanted to be floating and magical (usually) or heavier and quicker (which I found easier with Zero Suit Samus).
And with Samus, once I found out that you could start in her Zero Suit, I used her faster form more often and just braced myself to get slower after breaking a Smash Ball.
And with Pokemon Trainer, my favorite was Squirtle. He was fast and light enough. Ivysaur always felt pretty blocky, but Charizard was good if I needed a hard hitter.
So even though he was hardly my favorite, I still wish Ivysaur was in...give him a makeover, maybe make him a little lighter...
edited 13th Apr '14 9:32:30 AM by Keybreak
You gotta believe me when I scare you away, all that I wish for is that you would stayHere's the problem with Rundas, Gandrayda, Sylux, etc. They've all only appeared in one game each. And not in especially important roles. They were just bosses. It's like asking for Crocomire.
Metroid doesn't have a huge amount of characters that are actually important enough to make it into Smash Bros. People need to realize that.
On the bright side (even if it means it isn't playable), Dark Samus's Assist Trophy shows that Sakurai realizes that, yes, its fighting style and abilities are quite different from Samus's.
edited 13th Apr '14 9:44:40 AM by NesClassic
🏳️⚧️she/her | Vio Rhyse AlberiaWell, no. Crocomire was one of the many rather nonhuman bosses that the series has, who would be fairly awkward as playable characters, as very few of them were built for the rather acrobatic battle style common to Smash Bros. A closer comparison to Crocomire would be Thardus or Quadraxis or something.
Characters like Rundas, Ghor, Gandrayda, and the characters from Hunters are suggested due to their shapes being closer to those that would function more naturally in Smash. That, and popularity due to them usually having actual dialogue.
I have a message from another time...

Shulk is usually the more common character brought up in regards to Xenoblade, but Melia would probably be a more interesting character to translate to Smash Bros. I'd imagine her playing as a cross between Zelda and Olimar, with directional specials which do no direct damage, and instead summon an elemental with corresponding buff. Three to four elementals could be queued (water with enhanced defense for an up-B, thunder with increased damage on specials for side B and fire with increased damage on normals for down B), and subsequently released through the neutral special. I'd imagine that each buff would remain active for three to four seconds, but over-ride any previously activated buff rather than stacking.
Normals would be equivalent to her staff auto-attacks, with Spear Break and Starlight Kick functioning as directional smash attacks; while Mind Blast followed by Burst End would probably make for a relatively interesting Final Smash, combining the standard increase in power / defense with the disabling of opponents' specials.
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