This game has the best STARTING roster of all the Smash iterations.
The unlockables are garbage. And I've realized this has been the status quo for all the Smash games and probably the reason why, when the whole roster is finally leaked, I'm left with a bitter taste in my mouth.
The original had a good starting roster, one rep per franchise. It was new. The unlockables, while not plentiful, were interesting and fun to try out.
Melee included some cool characters in the starting roster. Some we expected (Bowser, Peach), some we didn't (Ice Climbers), but it was a nice roster. Then we mostly unlocked clones (but still some cool choices like Marth, Falco, Ganondorf, and Mewtwo).
Brawl's starting roster is awesome! Diddy Kong, Olimar, Ike, Pokemon Trainer, Wario, Dedede, Zero Suit. Unlockables? Besides the 3rd Party guys, wasn't that impressive. Same cloney movesets from Ganon and Falco, along with characters I couldn't understand like ROB.
And Smash 4 has a PHENOMENAL starting roster. All the 3rd party guys, Little Mac, Greninja, Robin, Shulk, even vets who have been secret like Falcon, Marth, and Luigi! The starting roster keeps getting better and better. But for the secret characters? We actually unlocked LESS than we did for Brawl, and included are vets who have kinda outstayed their welcome, at least for me (Jiggs and ROB), a Melee vet (and not even the most requested), a Brawl starter vet (he should have stayed a starter), and clones filling out the other uninspired spots (we still live in an age where Ganondorf cannot have a unique moveset to call his own).
Don't get me wrong, I love unique movesets. I wanna try out Duck Hunt and Bowser Jr. because they offer something new to the game AND I feel their inclusion is justified, but honestly the unlockables for each Smash becomes less and less epic. When we're given this amazing roster to start out the game, I wanna feel justified in unlocking the rest because I want them to be just as epic.
I want Ridley. I want Dixie Kong. I want Mewtwo. I want franchises who have really unique characters to bring them into Smash because I know it would make a more diverse roster selection. Instead, I unlock Pit number 2.
I know I'm a fanboy, but I want these characters because I know they can offer more to Smash than some of the other choices given.
That's my two cents on the roster. There are definitely some awesome character choices I cannot wait to play, but I should WANT to get the secrets, and I don't.
Starters are awesome. Unlockables are garbage.