On the surface, we seem to be getting all the facts. But what if they are putting in subtle clues to reveal secret characters before the game is released?

The new version of Super Smash Bros. Dojo has been operating since May 22nd, providing informative updates on the characters, stages, music, and items of Nintendo’s upcoming release, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For the most part, the updates of the Dojo have served to whet the palettes of gamers on a weekly basis with a new character (or two). But there are still holes in the character list. Many have begun to wonder if we will really learn of all the characters before the December 3rd release. And to that I say, we will know. But they may not tell us outright.

The way the Super Smash Bros. Brawl website has been established is that they provide information in distinct sections: Characters, Gameplay, Game Modes, Stages, Items and Music. But, within these updates, I wonder if they haven’t hidden clues so that we might guess where the other characters will be coming from.

For example, take the list of musicians. This is something that has been stressed on several occasions. The developers have hired musicians for Super Smash Bros. Brawl who have worked on games that do not belong to Nintendo, or games which have not been included in Smash before. For example, composers who have worked on Pikmin, Golden Sun, Animal Crossing, Metal Gear Solid, Xenosaga, and even Kingdom Hearts have contributed to Brawl. At the time of this announcement, we had no idea that anything related to Animal Crossing would be included. But that has changed. A stage and Animal Crossing music was confirmed, suggesting that these composers may be working on remixing songs from their original material. Could this indicate that there will be a character from Pikmin, Golden Sun, and possibly even Xenosaga or Kingdom Hearts? It is likely.

Some people have taken the remixed Ridley battle music to indicate that Ridley will be a playable character in some form or another. Originally, I thought this to be extremely unlikely. However, the inclusion of more “heavy” characters (Bowser, Charizard, Donkey Kong) and the inclusion of flying characters (Charizard, Pit, Metaknight) and “rival” characters (Mario - Bowser, Kirby - Metaknight), Ridley is seeming more and more likely. He is - in fact - more likely than Dark Samus, who would be a clone character (and is not nearly as tied into the Metroid mythos as Ridley).

The confirmation of Samurai Goroh as a trophy told us two things: Captain Falcon will be back, and the only other person capable of inclusion from his franchise is Black Shadow (since the popularity hierarchy in F-Zero goes Captain Falcon - Black Shadow - Samurai Goroh - the rest). We know Captain Falcon will be present because of this:

The symbol of the F-Zero series, this character symbol exists because it belongs to a franchise affiliated with a playable character. To further prove this point, it is worth noting that Mr. Wright (from Sim City) has the Smash Bros. logo as his emblem, as opposed to a franchise specific emblem.

Something else that we can expect in the game is - likely - an Animal Crossing character due to the creation and presence of this emblem:

This suggests that there will be at least one Animal Crossing character (hopefully Resetti).

The Franklin Badge also tells us that there will be a character from Mother present again. Not only does it have Mother written right on it, but - once again - it has an exclusive emblem.

On the Smash Bros. website, numerous emblems have been revealed. And there are gaps in between many of them, suggesting additional franchises. All Smash logos except for the first are blank spaces, and there may be even more beyond the discovered range (we only know it goes up to 18 because of Kid Icarus’ symbol).

Granted, those three franchise symbols could easily be filled by Solid Snake, leaving room for only two other franchises. My money is on Pikmin and Golden Sun, although I would thoroughly enjoy playing as Little Mac.