Looks pretty good. I am bummed there is no fully-evolved Grass starter pokemon to go along with Charizard and Greninja (after the removal of the flawed but neat Pokemon Trainer); Sceptile would have been a wonderful choice...maybe DLC?! We'll see. Oh yeah and Dark Pit sucks pretty bad. Nothing is different besides his Final Smash, which I just turn off anyway because they usually suck the fun out of the game.

Also all of these people getting the game early are not so good at taking straight pictures of screens, let alone being able to capture them.

Anyway the more important thing is that the gameplay impressions so far have been glowing, even from hardcore players. Can't wait.

There are a bunch of people streaming this game with capture cards (which by the way are extremely expensive and have to be modded into the 3DS).

I'm sad there's no Dixie or K. Rool. I mean come on, DKCR sells 6 million, more than Skyward Sword, and DK is still at 2 reps. Unbelievable. Fire Emblem and Kid Icarus have more than a franchise that outsells Zelda. Ridiculous. Well there's now rumors there'll be characters only unlockable on Wii U that you transfer back. Rumor is Dixie will be one of those characters. There's also DLC. K Rool would be a natural fit for DLC since he's the most wanted not-added character in Japan and like the 2nd most wanted in America behind Ridley. Oh, also no DK Assist Trophies. Shafted again!

Currently the thing that's interesting folk who are keeping their hopes up for the future is that no one has seen a Dixie, K. Rool, Ridley or Mewtwo trophy yet.

Still... I gotta admit I can't find fault with the choices. I think I like all the newcomers to some degree unlike last time where ROB was thoroughly unwelcome. They're fine choices with inspired and interesting kits. I especially like how Duck Hunt is a combo team of a dog and a duck. The moveset appears to ape Banjo-Kazooie a whole lot and there's even a color that's spot on. Fantastic.

@acornactivist: finally someone who feels my pain... i concur Dark Pit is a wasted slot could we not have gotten a 2nd earthbound character like Jeff or Poo???

Madoka confirmed for Smash?!

Normally I'd be a little disappointed with adding somebody like Dark Pit which seems lazy, but there's supposedly 49 playable characters which is a crazy high number to choose from.

Also Duck Hunt Dog looks badass.

@larrydavis: why you gotta hate fun bro?

So can anyone here explain the culture of this "character hype" thing to me?

Why does there seem to be such an outcry about Ridley? I mean, I get that he's a big villain in the Metroid series, but it's not like he has much characterization at all. He's basically a purple pterodactyl. Why so much rage that he wasn't included?

Why do people seem so upset about the clone characters when that's a) been a thing in the series since the first one and b) a thing in pretty much every fighting game with a roster this big?

Why do people always talk about "series reps" and how many there are? Do people really want more characters from the same 4 Nintendo franchises? Wouldn't it be more exciting to bring in, I dunno, Mystical Ninja Goemon characters? Buck Bumble? The main dude from that SNES game Gods? I dunno, it seems (to me) like anything interesting that Dixie Kong would bring to the table is probably covered by Donkey and Diddy Kong.

@homelessbird: About series reps, the examples you listed would all be fantastic. The problem is minor or unpopular series, like Kid Icarus and Fire Emblem having too many reps. Most everyone would prefer those spots go to A. a more popular series like Metroid or B. an unrepresented series/game like Advance Wars or Sin & Punishment.

@fattylobotnik: I guess I understand feeling that there are too many Fire Emblem and Kid Icarus characters in there. I don't really get wanting more characters from Donkey Kong or Metroid, though. The former just has more apes that play pretty much the same (unless you're talking K. Rool, I guess), and the latter just has giant monsters that are devoid of personality. I mean, I like both those series, but I don't have any real affection for any of the characters that haven't been included. Maybe that's just me though.

I really liked the first two Smash Bros games! Although the second considerably less so.

It's not that hard in the UK either. I got Pokemon last year 3 or 4 days early.

Just got a code to download the demo and this roster's making me lean more and more towards picking this up next month.