if it's revealed at E3 and releasing this fall, I've got to assume there won't be too many new characters
or maybe there will be, and they'll just be blasting out two newcomer trailers a month until release?? I could go for that madness
Really there are hints of this game's existence scattered about as far back as 3.5 years ago at this point (I'm talking about the Smash job listing Bamco put up
while Smash 3DS/Wii U were still in development), so I'm of the mind that they've been preparing new content for this release for a long time. I would be totally fine with a shorter reveal-to-release cycle as long as it means we still get some kind of trailers or content reveals in the interim.
Regardless, I'll lose my shit if the reveal in any way has footage of my Precious Children the Ice Climbers coming back. Popo, Nana: please come home.
Ya know, I never realized it before but yeah it seems like there are no limbless Smash characters. There are some that don't use their limbs to attack though (like Olimar) so I think the lack of limbs wouldn't be a huge barrier for Slime. You could have it transform into various types of Slimes for certain attacks, like Slime Knight for side Smash, Drake Slime for up special, Metal Slime for down special, etc.
I mean, Jigglypuff is pretty darn close haha, her limbs are just super tiny. I think Slime being limbless isn't that much of an issue considering it's, well, slimy :< It could stretch, morph, and change shape to create hitboxes. Plus there's magic. Transforming into other Slimes is a cool idea too, though!
As far as other third parties are concerned, I somehow can't shake the idea of Rayman. I mean, he (and Globox) got a trophy in Smash Wii U after Ubisoft approached Sakurai about making him playable. Ubisoft and Nintendo have a terrific working relationship currently, and there's the Mario & Rabbids thing. I also just happen to think he's a nice fit for the series. I would not at all be surprised to see him appear.