he's not a part of nintendo history, though
Megaman was born and raised on nintendo
Sonic was their biggest rival, so he has his place too in a weird way
the only reason that people think he's gonna be in is because Namco is helping to work on the game, but Sakurai already said that they aren't getting any special treatment. It's purely business.
in short fuck pac-man, when's little mac
not nintendo history
Ehhh. I don't think Snake is coming back.
Is a port.
In that case get ready for Kingdom Hearts having the possibility for an appearance :P
Don't even joke.
If it was Mecha Sonic specifically, that would be amazing. We're probably not getting any more Sonic characters, though, even as Alt. Costumes.
That, and apparently Kojima and Sakurai are real chummy, so that could be a reason. IIRC, Snake was set to be in melee, but the cast had already been completed, so no room.
Well, I'm assuming it's New Leaf.