Well, it certainly looks real. I guess the rumors of a 50+ roster were false, but nine up from the previous game is still cool. I’m certainly glad Gannondorf is back, and his Twilight Princess makeover looks great. I could have done without Jigglypuff, Ice Climbers, and Game & Watch (Ice Climbers but no Mewtwo? Blasphemey!) Still, the lack of Pichu is nice.
One odd thing about the roster is how it seems to betray the notion that there would be no clone characters in this game (Fox/Falco, Link/Toon Link, Mario/Luigi, Ness/Lucas, arguably Capt. Falcon/Ganondorf). It makes me wonder if they will alter some of their moves. This would be cool, as I never liked Ness’ moves, but am fond of the character. Ridley will make an awesome boss, but part of me wanted him to be an unlockable character, as much of a long shot as that was. Oh, and ROB ftw.
However, I am still a little skeptical that this is the final roster. Notice how there are only two third-party characters. Sakurai made it sound like there would be at least three. The game comes out in Japan tomorrow, so I guess we’ll find out soon.