I actually think that there are some decisions made more in terms of prestige than on selling power. Mother gets a lot of love, and while we might not see it on bestsellers lists, the games appear high up on Famitsu's top Nintendo games list as determined by reader votes. Same went for Xenoblade, which was why I was confident that Shulk was going to be in Smash 4 going in.
In fact, let me go post that old list again. I'll bold every franchise that has a playable rep, lumping all the Mario stuff together. (Although, notice that Mario RPG is high up there - no wonder Geno got a Mii costume.)
- 1. Super Mario Bros. NES
- 2. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64
- 3. Super Mario 64 N64
- 4. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past SNES
- 5. Mother 2 SNES
- 6. Xenoblade Wii
- 7. Legend of Zelda NES
- 8. Super Mario RPG SNES
- 9. Smash Bros. Melee GC
- 10. Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Wii
- 11. Fire Emblem – Seisen no Keifu SNES
- 12. Famicom Mukashi-banashi Famicom-DiscDrive
- 13. Super Mario Kart SNES
- 14. Famicom Tantei Club Part II Famicom-DiscDrive
- 15. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker GC
- 16. Fire Emblem – Monsho no Nazo SNES
- 17. Legend of Zelda – Links Awakening GB
- 18. Super Mario World SNES
- 19. Super Mario Sunshine GC
- 19. Smash Bros. Brawl Wii
- 21. Donkey Kong Country SNES
- 22. Ice Climber NES
- 23. Mother NES
- 24. F-ZERO SNES
- 25. Kirby Super Star SNES
- 26. Mario Kart Wii Wii
- 27. Mario Kart 64 N64
- 28. Pokemon Red/Blue/Green/Pikachu GB
- 29. Super Mario Bros. 3 NES
- 30. Super Mario Galaxy Wii
- 31. Star Fox SNES
- 32. Magical Vacation GBA
- 33. Kirbys Air Ride GC
- 34. Golf NES
- 35. Joy Mech Fight NES
- 36. Donkey Kong Country 2 SNES
- 37. Super Mario 64 DS DS
- 38. Legend of Zelda – Twilight Princess Wii
- 39. Legend of Zelda – Majoras Mask N64
- 40. Animal Crossing: Wild World DS
- 41. Donkey Kong NES
- 42. Smash Bros. N64
- 42. Volley Ball Famicom-DiscDrive
- 44. Banjo-Tooie N64
- 45. Baseball NES
- 46. Famicom Tantei Club Famicom-DiscDrive
- 47. Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi NES
- 48. Metroid Famicom-DiscDrive
- 48. Metroid II – Return of Samus GB
- 50. Super Mario: Yoshis Island SNES
For better clarity, let's take all the bolded stuff out:
- 12. Famicom Mukashi-banashi Famicom-DiscDrive
- 14. Famicom Tantei Club Part II Famicom-DiscDrive
- 32. Magical Vacation GBA
- 34. Golf NES
- 35. Joy Mech Fight NES
- 42. Volley Ball Famicom-DiscDrive
- 44. Banjo-Tooie N64
- 45. Baseball NES
- 46. Famicom Tantei Club Famicom-DiscDrive
That's most of them, and from what remains, Famicom Detective Club and Banjo Kazooie reps have both been discussed by Sakurai before. Famicom Detective Club got its trophy in Melee. Joy Mech Fight's main character was planned as an item in Melee and is an assist trophy in Ultimate now. Magical Vacation's got a number of trophies in Brawl.
Now, I'm not nearly confident enough to say that Wonder Red is
likely because it's a little more than just
niche. But I feel that he had some possibility get on for this reason, particularly as a DLC pick as that would already be geared more to the core audience. He does appear highly in online polls on English-speaking websites, so I don't think it's totally outside of belief that he could be in a Bayonetta situation.