i find it funny that fans of smash bros quickly toss aside any fourth party representation as if it has never happened before and could never happen at all
there are four notable instances of fourth party rep in smash to my knowledge, and two of them appear in ultimate. ill start with the first smash game and go to ultimate.
first, in smash 64 and certain versions of melee, theres the proximity mine. it bares close resemblance to the mines from goldeneye 007. speaking of, while agent 007 was never actually cut like some people may believe, he was talked about by sakurai himself. (it would have been insane to have him in and this post wouldnt exist if he was.)
then theres the chronicle in brawl, which i dont even know if that would count, but it does list fourth party names such as mickey, popeye, and snoopy.
now heres where things really get serious with this: in ultimate, there are two heavy hitters with this debate. first, which everyone knows about, is mickey. while he doesnt actually appear, the silhouette of his head is on sora's keyblade. THIS HAS BEEN HUGE SINCE HIS TRAILER and i think it really blurs the line for character inclusions next entry almost as well as the sans and cuphead outfits do for indie game representation in a future roster. dracula also blurs that line, as he originates from an 1800s novel, vampire and appearance included, although the cloak design was in part due to a play. yes, his powers come from castlevania, but the basis is still. from. a. novel. (now if only the same would happen with geralt...)
now im gonna start saying some crazy things.
miku, dragon ball, and spongebob have the highest chance of getting in regarding true, modern day fourth party representation.
ill start with spongebob by saying that he has a great history with games and popularity in the west. many games have been rated highly and everyone knows who he is. he's just as popular as mickey, mario, hello kitty, pikachu, and goku. does he have a strong chance of actually being the first to get in? not at all, especially with him already being in a competing platfighter. but he has made an appearance in recent game crossovers with sonic crossworlds, which may strengthen his chances.
then theres dragon ball. it has an almost equally great game history starting right after the original manga finished. a lot of the fighting games are incredibly popular and goku himself might be more well known that spongebob. he's also a japan original, so he has a naturally higher chance. with that said, he's probably at the very top of the list, but theres also android 21, whos a game original character. who knows who will get in first? but i think neither will get in before miku.
miku, and vocaloid in general, i could see being considered 3.5th party. they are pieces of software just like games. are they games? no, but they are interactive. they give joy when used, heard, and seen. in a sense, they could be. they also have a huge history with games, mainly being the plethora of rhythm games from sega. and with sega comes the many crossovers she's had with sonic, persona, monkey ball, and others. but the biggest of them all has to be project voltage, a vocaloid (and with teto, synthv) and pokemon crossover project that started in 2023 and is still going with a recent announcement just a few days ago. i really think, out of every fourth party character, she has the strongest chance of being a playable fighter in smash.
