Here's the thing, how many people though 10 years ago that Jason and theAlien would be in a Mortal Kombat game? Or that Negan would be in Tekken?

Guest characters are rapidly becoming a popular trend for fighting games since they bring in more main-stream appeal from people who might not normally buy the games, but their make money for the video game publishers and the owners of these charchters.

People keep acting like Goku will never get in because of some unwritten rule that bans non-video game characters. But let me ask a question.

How many people thought Cloud would appear in a Smash Bros game? For people who are too young to know why this is a big deal, let's go over some history.

During the NES and SNES days, Square was one of Nintendo's most loyal first-party developers, and their Final Fantasy games(alongside other titles) helped give Nintendo as edge over Sega and NEC in the home video game market.

Come the Nintendo 64, and Final Fantasy VII starts development on that platform. But Square becomes frsutrated by the limitations of carts, and leaves Nintendo to make games for Sony and its Playstation.

This results in a bitter falling out between the two companies that lasts for an entire generation, with Square even mocking the N64's storage medium in ads. Final Fantasy VII eventually comes out on the Playstation, and becomes a huge hit that not only brings Final Fantasy and JRPGS into the mainstream outside of Japan, but becomes(much like Street Fighter II) the gold standard that modern RPGs still draw from.

Final Fantasy VII's success far surpasses any of the entries that were on Nintendo platforms, and Cloud becomes an iconic character in gaming and is closely tied with the Playstation.

Up until Cloud showed up in Smash Bros, people openly debated who would be the rep if Final Fantasy got one in Smash. Terra and Cecil were popular picks, the Japanese favored Bartz from Final Fantasy V, and even generic but iconic classes like Black Mage were tossed around.

That's why many people were shocked to see Cloud show up as a playable character in Smash Bros. The trailer even lampshades this by having Cloud say "I'd never thought I would see the day."

Cloud turned out to be the most popular DLC character, and Sakurai later said that Cloud was picked over other Final Fantasy charcters because he was the most well-known character and the one who would make the most money.

Why is this important? Because up until Cloud showed up, the other third parties had made major apperances on Nintendo platforms. Mega Man and Nintendo are closely tied since the NES days, Sonic made a home on Nintendo platforms and found great success(compared to Playstation and Xbox) after Sega left the hardware market, Pac-Man, Ryu, and Snake have all made major appearenaces on Nintendo hardware.

So, how does this tie into Goku? Well, the most common argument that people make is that Goku is an anime character and therefore adding him opens the flood gates for every other character.

But here's the thing, Goku is what Ryu is to fighting games and Cloud is to JRPGs. Due to Dragon Ball's popularity, he's pretty much the first thing people think of when they think of Anime. Goku is pretty much the most mainstream anime character in the world. Adding him is not going to open floodgates because his popularity and mainstream appeal far surpass most other characters.

As for the "He's an anime charcter and does not belong in Smash Bros" here's my counterpoint to that argument. Since the first Dragon Ball game came out on the Famicom all the way to Dragonball Fighter Z, Goku has been in 45 games on Nintendo platforms, with only the Virtual Boy and Wii U never getting a game that had him in it.

Barring Mario, Link, Pikachu, and maybe a few others Goku has been in more games then the vast majority of Smash's roster with 45 games in Nintendo platforms alone.

Finally, he can work gameplay wise if you think about it. The Tournament of Power was pretty much a glorofied Smash Bros match between 80 fighters, and flight was disabled. Goku is also known to purposly hold back his power to fight on the same level as weaker oppoents to test himself.

So, his Smash appearance could be him not using flight due to nobody else having that ability and holding back his power so he can fight his oppoents on an equal level.

My money is that Goku will show up in Smash Ultimate, but as a DLC fighter. You want to set the internet on fire and overshadow most of Sony and Microsoft's announcments at E3? Show off Goku as a DLC fighter for Smash.

So, I bet he's going to be in. Its strange how his voice actor keeps addressing this issue and it keeps coming up.

But I'm going to double down. Not only is Goku getting in, but Vegeta comes in as Goku's echo fighter.

So, Goku will be a DLC fighter with Vegeta included as his echo fighter. Like him or not, Goku will print money and will surpass pretty much any other possible DLC character in terms of popularity and how much money he makes Nintendo, Namco-Bandai, and Toei.

Me personally? I want to see Goku in the game, and I could see him as a wonderful addition to the roster.

I don't care what the haters say, I want to see Goku in Smash!