Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Ridley Me This)

5. Spring Man
He's dull as anything, but I want some ARMS representation and he seems like one that might actually happen.  Ribbon Girl, Max Brass, or Helix would all be preferable though.

4. Jibanyan
Did you know Nintendo published the Yo-Kai Watch games?  I didn't.  Now I do, and I want to see Jibanyan vs. Pikachu.  It was the clash, it was the monster clash...

3. Rex & Pyra
I hate Pyra, buuuuuut I want to play as Rex (mostly because Nia won't happen) and they could be a classy little double act.  Almost like the Pokémon Trainer of yore, with Pyra standing on the sidelines jiggling about helping Rex.  Only new anime swordsperson I want to see, mind you.

2. Decidueye
Because it's a ghostly nerd wearing a hoodie.  Might actually happen, seems to be the most popular new starter and would round out a fire/water/grass trio nicely (assuming Charizard and Greninja both make the leap).

1. Ridley
THE DREAM IS ALIVE

5. Reggie
Look, it got talked about last generation Nintendo, and we're not going to stop until it happens.

4. Detective Pikachu
Not as a palette-swap, as a separate character.  Investigate!  Be slightly out of breath!  Drink coffee!  It'll work somehow.

3. Boxboy
It'd be funny.

2. Nia
'I'll bash you up proper next time I swear.'  Rides Dromarch into battle, nightcap is optional costume.  Final Smash:

Late-Game Xenoblade 2 spoilers:

1. Madeline
The only correct choice for a third-party character.  Panic attack attack!

5. Ryu
Quite apart from being third-party DLC, I never liked the way you needed to master the Street Fighter combos to get the most out of him.  In general he didn't quite seem to fit.  By all means reintroduce him as paid DLC down the line though.

4. Chrom
An unnecessary anime swordperson.

3. Lucina
An unnecessary anime swordperson and clone.

2. Cloud
An unnecessary anime swordperson who's never appeared in non-chibi form on a Nintendo machine.

1. Falcondorf
Either revamp him or replace him with Divine Body Horror Thing Ganon, I don't care which.  Won't happen though.

05.) Corrin.  Yes yes I know, anime swordyperson and what have you, but those who've actually played him will know he's much more another Robin.  The focus is entirely on his dragon arms, and is as close as we'll ever get to a lance user in Smash.  Plus he has a ton of fun tecs.  

P.S. I actually despise Corrin as a character, so this is purely from a "fun to use character" stance.  I love Fates as far as gameplay is concerned but Corrin might just be my most hated video game character of all time.  He's five for a reason!  

04.) Mewtwo, my main in both games he's appeared in and a blast to play as.  He's iconic as heck to Pokemon fans new and old, looks
cool as heck, and has a unique and good moveset.  Bring im back, and this time as a main member of the roster!

03.) Cloud.  Lets get this out of the way: I hate Final Fantasy VII.  I hate Cloud even more.  He comes extremely close to Corrin in my "characters I'd love to see thrown in a vat of acid" list.  But I'd be lying if he wasn't amazing to play as, he controls like a merc, has great tools at his disposal, and just all round feels good to control.  If I were to only have one pure swordsman back in the game it'd be Cloud.  

Disclaimer: if all of his movement properties and normal/smash attacks were ported over to Shulk I'd happily see him removed entirely.  Actually ya know what, forget cloud and just give his basic moves to that Xenoblade 2 protagonist instead!  

02.) Wolf, ah yes, the supposed clone of Fox.  My main from Brawl, and if one only bothered to take specials in to account one could call him a clone.  But that'd be ignoring how utterly different he is to control and play as.  His normal and special attacks are all uniques and his movement all together makes him a bruiser to Fox's agility.  Plus Star Fox needs another rep on the roster anyway, so lets see that be Wolf eh!

01.) Robin, my reasons for him/her are much the same as Corrin.  On the surface a swordman, but in reality a mage whose entire game is based around magic attacks.  The game needs a few long-range specialists and Robin is a very finely balanced one.

03.) Every Fire Emblem Swordsman besides Marth.  Yep, you heard me, all of them.  Aside from the fact I get tired of all the moaning about anime swordsmen all the time to the point it gives genuinely unique characters like Corrin a bad rep there's the very simple fact that, lets be honest, they're boring to use.  Marth is necessary as the franchises Pikachu, but get everyone else the heck out.  The game doesn't need bad waifu's like Lamecina and, much as I like him, nor our boys like Roy.  

02.) Anything Third Party.  Stop.  Third party characters should not be in the Nintendo Love Letter of a game.  Every single time Smash is announced everyone and their dog starts yapping on about utterly unnintendo characters, and even when they're characters I like I just plain don't want them in Smash.  Keep things pure!  And yes, I recognise the hypocrisy given my secondary main was Cloud, but chuck him and port his moveset to Shulk and I'm just as happy, nay even happier.  Make it Shulk Time all the time and end the tyranical reign of Third Party characters today!!

01.) Falcondorf.  For pities sake he is one of the most iconic villains in the medium, give him the unique moveset he deserves.  Since Melee Ganondorf has been proficient in two different swordsman styles and even some minor hand-to-hand combat.  Get the crappy Captain Falcon clone out and give us a real Ganondorf.  Hell you could even make him a pure magic user (and then dump Robin to everyones delight and take even more heat off Fire Emblem)!

05.) Blood Falcon.  Okay, I'll admit, I've never actually played an F-Zero game, but from where I'm sitting we already have a character who could use Falcondorf's style while also pleasing F-Zero fans with more reps on the cast.  Win-win!

04.) A new Zelda Rep.  Loads of characters culd throw their hat in the ring here.  Ghirahim or Zant for a menacing non-Ganondorf villain, or you could even go for a pure joke character and be creative with Linebeck!  There's more to the franchise than the holders of the Tri-Force, put one in!
 
03.) Funky Kong.  This one might surprise people.  I have no love for the Dkony Kong franchise.  However it is a franchise that deserves more reps, and both DK himself and Diddy Long are extremely fun characters to use, Funky has similar potential, so get im in I say!

02.) Fire Emblem Axe User.  You knew this was coming, I've made no secret for my love of the franchise nor my issues with reps as long as they add something unique.  Corrin is half a spearman and Robin is a spellcaster.  The next logical step to close out the weapon triangle is to add in an axe-man!  Between all the axes in the series there's plenty of potential, and it'd give them a chance to add fan-favourite Hector to alleviate the removal of Roy and Ike.
 
01.) Koopa Troopa.  Surprised?  These guys have always been my favourite Mario goon, equal amounts cute and effective, frequently carrying an variety of weapons.  They even have half a moveset ready thanks to Squirtle!  

Ice Climbers - They're something different, and we'll never see them anywhere else. That said, if they bring in another dynamic duo instead of the Ice Climbers then that's fine by me too.

BONSLY Absolute travesty this fella was removed, I want a mode where BONSLY is the only support item!

Mewtwo Banger

Snake Yeah I don't care that he's not Nintendo, he worked precisely because it made no sense for him to be there. His moveset, his appearance. None of it should have worked, and yet it all came together.

Helix While Spring Man would be the easiest ARMS lad to introduce, we've had characters before get stronger as they take damage. Lets do something new with this wobbly goo lad!

Goomba A fully playable character, albeit in its own mode. I think it would be fun to have a specific Goomba stage wherein one player commands the Goomba, which gradually gets larger and larger as the timer wages on. Other players are tasked with hitting other players into the Goomba to score kills - Hits to the Goomba's head don't count, Goomba's can only kill as they would in Mario!

Zoda This is the F-Zero bad guy you want. Blood Falcon is a literal clone of the Cap, leave him as a palate swap (although an aesthetic change to his Final Smash and Falcon Punch/Kick would be nice!). Zoda has a load of chemicals being pumped into him, and he's mad. Think Bane, but slimmer and with a lot of screws loose. There's a lot of fun new mechanics this guy could have involving the use of temporary buffs/debuffs based upon managing his chemicals. Besides, he's one of the main villains in the GP Legend games. I don't think Black Shadow, the main big bad in F-Zero games, would have an interesting moveset so I'd rather see him as some sort of support item.

Nobby

Pictured here. :

All but 2 Fire Emblem characters - I know it's more popular than it was, but 6 is taking the piss, especially looking at the previous Zelda list. I couldn't even remember all their names until I say this.
Either Falco or Wolf - not trying to step on the Jaster/Athrun convo below, but they're too similar to have 3 things.
Ganon (in his current form) - as y'all said, it doesn't make sense.
Dark Pit - you know, that guy.
The swappable movesets - it took too long to access the alternatives, and I don't think anyone but nutcase professional types got round it

I like 3rd party characters in the game. It's still primarily a Nintendo roster, but having "friends" is a welcome surprise.

Ivysaur - If Charizard stays separate, then this fella deserves another go.
Ice Climbers - Please.

Totodile - what a happy fella. Might clash with Greninja, but so what?
One of the Breath of the Wild champions - there really needs to be more Zelda representation in the game. But which one? Why not them all? If there can be 6 Fire Emblem characters (*lead out of building*)
Someone from Arms - because it's a new thing. I don't mind who. You kids pick a cool person.
Shovel Knight - they went to the trouble of making an amiibo, and the game's a love-letter to the NES.
Also... isn't it weird that there's a Dark Souls amiibo that doesn't do that much.. just saying is all

Replace a FE character with Isaac, simple


Get rid of Falco as he's a clone and bring in Krystal, who will use the staff


I would like to see a Pokemon from each gen and maybe even Gen 8 Mon but this would mean getting rid some of the Gen 1 Mon


I do think we need more from Zelda especially in the villain department and Nintendo could tie this into Skyward Sword HD


If SMASH is going to have 3rd party characters then I feel Bomberman fits in well to the overall game more then Cloud

Essentially I'm at the place where, even if I personally don't want third-party characters, I know there's no way they're going to go away.  Brawl -> 4, there was a chance it was an experiment that they'd drop.  Now?  We're definitely getting Sonic in SSB5, and no doubt Paccers and Mega Man too.  Taking that pragmatic approach, I have divided my desires into:

Bayonetta Level - Where the character only appears on Nintendo consoles these days and may as well be a Nintendo character.  (Later 'phone ports are fine too I guess.)  No problem with these appearing at all.  Examples: Bayonetta.  Possible examples: Layton, Wright.

Top Level - Characters with deep and abiding links with Nintendo above other platforms, regardless of style.  Happy enough if these appear in the main game, would love to see them as DLC.  Examples: Mega Man, mostly on gut feel I have to admit.  Possible examples: Amaterasu, Gunman Clive, Travis Touchdown.

Middle Level - Third-party characters who appear on Ninty machines, but are similar in style to something Nintendo might put out.  They might star in cartoony, light fantasy, or light sci-fi games.  Happy enough with them as DLC.  Examples: Sonic, Pac-Man.  Possible examples: Bomberman, Madeline (hey a man can dream), and I'd put Shovel Knight here after he got released on all other platforms with additional content.

Low Level - Third-party characters who appear(ed) on Ninty machines recently, with new non-ported from a few generations back games, and are darker than you'd generally associate with Ninty.  I'd only really want to see these in DLC further down the line.  Examples: none existent.  Possible examples: Solaire, Doomguy.

Trash Level - Jimbob mentioned 'Nintendo and friends'.  These characters aren't 'friends' of Nintendo: their latest games haven't appeared on Nintendo consoles.  Should never be anywhere near Smash.  Examples: Cloud, Snake, Ryu (SFII ad nauseam doesn't count).  Possible examples: the bloke from Hyper Light Drifter.  Where the feck is that on Switch!? (EDIT: Yay! Make that Mitsurugi or someone.)

New Utterly Excremental Level - Characters who have never appeared on a Nintendo machine and have only appeared in one game outside one, meaning they have no 'iconic' status whatsoever. Examples: Joker. Possible examples: I dunno, Lucy from Super Lucky's Tale?

Regardless, let there never be more than one third-party character to every nine Nintendo ones, DLC or no.  I respect everyone's right to disagree on this and will try not to be the wound up brat I was last time this came up.

Ice Climbers. They've got to come back into the fold.

Paper Mario - long have I campaigned for the inclusion of everyone's favourite A4/foolscap hero. By which I mean "trotted out his name every time we do this, only to be told that we've already got too many Mario characters". To that I say two things; firstly, he could have a unique and distinctive moveset by this stage, so he wouldn't necessarily feel like a Mario clone; and secondly, bringing him into the fold - and there's his "[blank] joined the fray!" phrase - will bring the Mario series roughly in line with half of what FE now seems to have.

Toad - if you didn't think Paper Mario should be in due to Mario overload, you are luh-VIN my second pick. This chap has been around longer than an enormous number of characters, could have a great moveset (OK, mostly based around throwing vegetables) and have some great reskins (Captain Toad, Toadsworth, Toadette cetera). Honestly, I would almost consider this one righting a wrong by this stage.

Min Min - I'm not sure who the breakout character is from ARMS but oh by howdy does ARMS need some representin' in the world of Smosh. I picked Min Min because I didn't want to go for Spring Man, Ribbon Girl or Twintelle. I also like the idea of using her stage in the game and being able to throw fighters into the gong on ARMS felt like a bizarrely Smash moment.

Dark Pit - his time has come and gone. Pit will suffice and have yer man Dark's outfit as a reskin. Those guys really were the Pits.

Lucina - there must be a reduction in the number of FE fighters, as I may have hinted previously.

Sheik - 'recombine' would be my instruction here. I know you can't really put the genie back in the bottle, so I'm not holding out too much hope on this one.