Is the final roster 51 characters?

NOTE: This post contains information regarding a potential leak. There is no official information, but if you want to avoid these entirely, I suggest you stop here.

There has been a lot of talk about the roster for the new Super Smash Brothers only having 47 characters. However, based on some evidence, that notion doesn't fly. In fact, in this post I'm going to prove that the roster will have 51 characters.

Before we begin, I need to talk about the Gamatsu leak.  It has been highly contested, but given the information revealed at E3, it appears likely.  I wont go much in depth on why this leak is likely true, but I'll give a quick overview. Before E3, Sal from Gamatsu, who had supposedly been getting information about the game, stated there were 6 more characters in the game: Pac-Man, Palutena, Shulk, Choir Boys (from Rhythm Heaven), Chrom and Mii Fighter. It should be noted that he specifically said "Mii Fighter" before it was revealed. This gives credence to this rumor so we can say with some confidence that Shulk, Chior Boys and Chrom will be in. I should also note that it was never implied that this is the entire roster.

With that out of the way, we can discuss why the roster will have 51 characters

The 3DS version does not fit a 47 character roster

On GameFAQs a user by the name of XXX stated that a roster of 47 does not fit the 3DS's screen. Here is what he said

The 3DS's top screen has a resolution of 400x240 (or 800x240 with 3D, but that's irrelevant).
The 3DS roster appears to take up all of the screen, so we can calculate the sizes of the slots in the demo roster:
400 / 6 = 66.67
240 / 4 = 60
This means every slot is 66x60 and that there's a 2 pixel wide strip of empty space on each side.
Supposedly, a 8x6 roster would fit perfectly with the same slot proportions:
400 / 8 = 50
240 / 6 = 40
So slots of 50x40 and no empty space.
But are these really the same proportions? Let's check:
66 / 60 = 1.1
50 / 40 = 1.25
Oh, that doesn't quite match up. Let's try 9x6 instead:
400 / 9 = 44.44
240 / 6 = 40
So slots of 44x40 and once again a 2 pixel wide strip of empty space on each side.
44 / 40 = 1.1
And yup! They have the same proportions as the demo roster's slots!
In fact, you could know this without even calculating it like this.
If the proportions don't change, the column/row ratio should always stay the same:
6 / 4 = 1.5
9 / 6 = 1.5
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/69445404

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/633202-super-smash-bros-for-wii-u/69445404

Here is the simple explanation. Based on the resolution of the 3DS top screen and the roster size, 47 would not fit the roster and keep the same proportions.  However, a 51 character roster (9x6) would fit perfectly. In fact, when compared, it still has the 2 pixels on the side.  You can also test this mathematically. 6/4 = 1.5 In order for the proportion to stay the same, it has to equal 1.5,  8/6=1.33333 but 9/6=1.5.  So we can see that in order for the current proportions to be set, the roster has to be 51 (9x6) and not 47 (8x6).  However, XXX pointed out that one game will have to change proportions.  The Wii U version does not hold 51 characters (13x4) based on it's current proportions.

The Wii U Version will change proportions

One thing many people don't know is that there was a difference in proportions from the demo version of Brawl and the official release.  Here is an image showing the difference provided by TheAnvil

Link if it helps you all see better: http://i.imgur.com/LN1wNEc.png

The left is the final roster (sans Wolf) and the top right is the roster for the demo. One thing you can notice is the demo boxes are much more rectangular and the final roster is more square.  Here are somethings you can see in the boxes on the demo that you can't see in the final release

• Demo you can see Marios hand but only two fingers in the final release
• You can see all of Fox's Blaster in the demo but not in the final release
• You can see Diddy Kong's elbow in the demo but not the final release
• Pit's right wing is more visable
• Lot's of white space on Pikachu and Yoshi
• You can see half of Meta-Knight's hand in the demo but only a third in the final release
• You can see most of Sonic's spikes on the demo version
• You can see a bit more of Bowser's left arm in the demo. You can also see more white space.

Based on what TheAnvil noticed, in order to resize the demo box to the final release, you'd have to shrink the picture horizontally 75% and vertically 64%.  This tells us that the demo and the final release were not proportionate.  Take a look again at the picture I posted in the top.  That is the roster for the newest demo.  You'll notice that it is similar to the Brawl demo in that the boxes are more rectangular. Estimates of a 47 character roster (12x4) are based on these boxes. However, they will likely be resized based on the information in Brawl and the 3DS.

So based on this information, the roster is more than likely not going to have more than 47 characters. How many is up in the air as the Wii U can hold about 52 while the 3DS holds 54. We'll have to wait for release to see what the final number is, but it could very well be just over 50 characters.

UPDATE: This is an older post and the Gamatsu leak is been proven to be false with the introduction of Robin. I have left the information in since it is still relevant to the topic at hand.